


Reincarnation For the Win

by sifshadowheart



Series: Reincarnation Self-Insert Fics [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anyone is a genius when they've an adult mind stuck in a kid's body, Canon What Canon?, F/M, Gen, Harem, Het and Slash, Kishimoto WTF is wrong with your ability to worldbuild?, M/M, Multi, Not Overpowered SIOC, Pre-Slash, SIOC: Self-Insert Original Character, Slash, This fic is my anti-depression/anxiety project
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:33:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 16
Words: 82,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25366903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sifshadowheart/pseuds/sifshadowheart
Summary: She remembered dying.What she did not expect was, after what amounted to drowning in her own fluids at thirty-two years old, was instead of whatever made up the afterlife, she opened her eyes in a world both somehow familiar as well as altogether strange.She’d been tired for a long time before she died.  However she’d been granted a second life, she was never going to thank anyone for it, no matter how amazing or awful it ended up being.  That said, if she ever met the reason she was sucked into the Naruto ‘verse, there would be much shin-kicking to be done.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi & Original Character(s), Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uchiha Itachi & Uchiha Shisui, Hatake Kakashi & Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi/Yamato | Tenzou, Hyuuga Neji/Uchiha Itachi, Hyuuga Neji/Uchiha Shisui, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Nara Shikamaru/Uzumaki Naruto, SIOC/Harem, SIOC/Hyuuga Neji, SIOC/Uchiha Itachi, SIOC/Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Itachi/Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Sasuke/Yuki Haku
Series: Reincarnation Self-Insert Fics [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1971403
Comments: 381
Kudos: 1755
Collections: A Collection of Beloved Inserts, Amazing OFC fanfiction, Devils, Naruto - (読み返す [よみかえす]), Not to be misplaced, The best of self inserts and Oc stories





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have a reference album posted on FB here: 
> 
> https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?vanity=sif.shadowheart&set=a.1197246023959559
> 
> It has artwork that I've found for the three OC's (AKA the Ono family) as well as for some of the other main characters.

**Reincarnation for the Win**

_ The measure of intelligence is the ability to change. ~ Albert Einstein _

**Prologue: What the Fuck is this bullshit?**

She remembered dying.

Or not  _ dying _ exactly, but certainly the  _ expectation _ of dying.

It wasn’t a surprise, no.

With a disease ravaging the world that specifically attacked and/or affected the lungs,  _ dying _ became a more potentially immediate reality than it had been previously and for good reason.

It all started when she was fourteen and became ill. Bacterial bronchitis. Only, she was away from home and had to wait several days for treatment as a result until she could be taken to an emergency clinic that handled her kind of health insurance.

Her lungs were never the same and little did she know it but that was the beginning of the end, albeit an end that wouldn’t come for another eighteen years.

Eighteen years of fighting bronchitis and lung infections every winter or early spring.

Of not having the lung capacity she used to have and seeing a sharp decline in quality of life as a result.

Add in early-onset fibromyalgia that helped to weaken her immune system due to fucked up sleep issues from the (suspected, doctors still weren’t entirely sure) neurological issues and being in constant pain, and yeah.

Dying of a lung-related issue wasn’t exactly a surprise even if previously in her more fatalistic moments she thought it would be something like pneumonia that would take her and not a global pandemic.

What she did  _ not _ expect was, after what amounted to drowning in her own fluids at thirty-two years old, was instead of whatever made up the afterlife, she opened her eyes in a world both somehow familiar as well as altogether strange.

…

_ Konohagakure, Fire Country, The Elemental Nations _

The first clue that it was looking like reincarnation was winning the eternal debate from the world of her first life regarding  _ what happens after we die _ came when she woke from what felt like the most confusing dream sequence  _ ever. _

And considering that in her first life she was a writer who  _ thrived _ on the bullshit her mind could come up with when she slept,  _ that _ was really saying something.

(For example, she’d never forget the  _ vivid _ dream she had of being on a raft with her biological father and under attack by dinosaurs that was a result of having to ease out of taking her sleeping medication when she lost her health insurance along with her job.)

Now it had to be said that she was no stranger to what she often called a “sleep hangover” that resulted from sleeping  _ too much _ in contrast with the cranky-ass behavior that might occur if she didn’t sleep enough. This  _ wasn’t _ that. Instead, it was a wash of confusion and shit that  _ did not make sense. _

She  _ wrote _ shit like this happening to characters, she’d never - well, there  _ was _ a daydream or two… - actually thought it could happen.

Honestly, if it weren’t for one thing in particular, she’d assume that she was having a fever dream or had slipped into a coma.

But that one thing was a reality.

Or perhaps it should be said that it was a  _ lack _ of a thing that convinced her more than anything.

She wasn’t in pain.

Rather: she wasn’t in _chronic_ pain as after she flipped the fuck out and tumbled down to the floor (that was too close, _why the fuck was it so close???)_ _then_ she was in pain from bumping her knees and overbalancing and slamming her forehead into the floor.

Chronic pain of certain kinds (cold that burned and nagged and ached in her joints, fire burning along her tendons and muscles, knuckles that cracked and froze and went stiff) had been her old friends for far too long for her to ever  _ not notice _ when she wasn’t in pain. Pain free days happened less and less every year. They were always a surprise. And she always noticed when they came and got a little more depressed when she woke up and they were gone again, likely for months.

Anyone who’d lived any length of time at all with a chronic condition of  _ any _ kind would tell you: the moment it receded  _ you noticed  _ and dreaded when it would return.

The second clue were hands and feet that were chubby with baby fat.

The third was strong hands picking her up and turning her to face pretty brown eyes and golden brown hair in a tanned face.

But the nail in the coffin of  _ maybe I’m just dreaming _ was the blue fabric headband with a metal plate in the center and a stylized leaf engraved on it: a Konoha  _ hitae-ate _ from the Naruto series.

Seriously?

What  _ the fuck _ was  _ this _ bullshit?

That paralyzing thought - followed immediately by panic hoping that she didn’t have pink or blue or otherwise colorful hair that branded anime characters as the dreaded  _ protagonists _ \- was what led to the child-like cry in far too high pitched of a little voice than anything else.

_ Especially _ when it occurred to her that she was  _ hearing _ Japanese but was  _ understanding _ it just fine when all she’d known in -  _ fuck _ \- in her  _ first life _ was how to say hello, sorry, thank you, and count to ten (and that last bit was shaky at best.)

It bore to be repeated:  _ what the fuck was this bullshit? _

Where were the peaceful clouds or the endless plains or the mead-halls?

Hell, at this point she’d take a goddess weighing her heart against a feather,  _ at least then _ she’d be in an afterlife and not, not, having to go through the bullshit of  _ living _ all over again.

She’d always had an interesting perspective on death.

Working in health care and with the elderly for a time hadn’t changed that.

Where others struggled and clawed and shook their fists at death, she’d always thought that death was peace. Rest. A gift after life.

Dying, she’d long thought, was easy.

_ Living _ was hard.

And now she had to do it all over again.

Fuck.

Some people would think that living again, getting a second chance, whatever they wanted to call it was a gift.

A chance to do better, to experience different things than what came before.

She was half certain it was a curse.

Which, given how she’d depicted some gods and goddesses in her writing over the years, if it was she probably from their perspective had it coming.

But still:  _ fuck. _

Naruto wasn’t  _ exactly _ puppy dogs and fluffy when it came to fictional worlds.

Though there were plenty of puppy dogs with the Inuzuka Clan running around, so you know, that was a win.

Living in the Naruto ‘verse would be a struggle from the first, even if she ignored the fact that the woman holding her -  _ her mother, who looked almost  _ nothing _ like her mother, her second mother?  _ \- was clearly a kunoichi so  _ she _ was likely expected to be one as well.

When she met their roommate in their two bedroom apartment where she shared her room with her mother -  _ kaa-chan, she was kaa-chan _ \- she discovered she had a new uncle as well (that was fine, generally speaking she had a decent record with uncles) her new  _ oji-san _ just as tall and broad and handsome as some of her uncles from her first life. And she’d had a  _ lot _ of uncles in her first life. More than most people given that both of her parents had come from families that were abnormally large in that era.

Oji-san had blue eyes and sandy brown hair, like the uncles she remembered most fondly, and like them also towered over her kaa-chan who was only of average height.

The more things changed, she supposed, the more they stayed the same.

Her name, of course, was one of those things that changed.

She wasn’t in the United States any longer, she was in Fire Country.

And her name now was Ono Toshiko, from a clanless family of shinobi in service to the Hokage of Konohagakure, and  _ months _ after she - she could only call it  _ waking up _ though she suspected it was closer in line with her physical mind finally being able to cope with her...spirit’s? Memories - woke in her second life she discovered that she was only a year old.

Which led to another realization: there was  _ no way _ shinobi were the same kind of humans as she was used to.

Her mental abilities she would’ve been able to brush off from her reincarnation being right fucked over.

Her  _ physical _ abilities? Abilities that were in  _ no way _ similar to what she remembered toddlers being capable of from walking and running early to being stronger than she expected until she got used to her new form to how quickly she healed and her pain tolerance were  _ not normal. _

Which, shinobi, new world, she had to adapt even if she thought it was fucking weird.

Whatever.

She was a writer, or she had been, she could handle a little plot twist.

Still: annoying.

_ Not _ as annoying to have to learn an entire new culture, writing system, and language in addition to  _ every-fucking-thing else _ that went with being spit out from the void into Naruto-land, but not exactly a day at the spa either.

She  _ would _ adapt.

She  _ would _ survive and live and even  _ thrive _ in this second life.

When it came down to it, she was just too stubborn and spiteful to do anything  _ else _ whether that second life was a result of a blessing or a curse.

She’d been tired for a long time before she died. However she’d been granted a second life, she was never going to thank anyone for it, no matter how amazing or awful it ended up being. That said, if she ever  _ met _ the reason she was sucked into the Naruto ‘verse, there would be much shin-kicking to be done.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 10 October 2020 - Inconsistency with Toshiko's age at time of Kyuubi Attack.

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part One_ **

_Beauty may be dangerous but intelligence is lethal ~ Unknown_

**Chapter One: Fuuinjutsu for Tricksy Bitches**

Okay.

So this was happening. She was salty about it, but it _was_ happening. She was now a thirty-two year old woman trapped in a one year old kunoichi-to-be body and _that_ was a total mind-fuck, to the point that she planned to avoid reflective surfaces as much as possible until she was at least a pre-teen.

Instead of a massive family, she had a small one with a kunoichi single mom and a shinobi uncle, no mention of who her father had been had as yet been mentioned in her presence.

There were family friends that she was supposed to call oji-san or oba-chan but no grandparents (which _sucked_ the big one, she’d really loved her maternal grandparents the first time around before they’d died) and no other siblings and no cousins.

Her kaa-chan, apparently, was the first member of her and her brother’s friend groups to have a kid which put Toshiko firmly in the place of older-sister to whatever spawn her uncles and aunts (honorary or otherwise) decided to inflict on the world at some point.

_Greatttt._

She liked kids, that wasn’t a problem when and/or if her family’s friends decided to start spawning, it was just that the reality of what the terrible twos must be like for _shinobi spawn_ that filled her with dread.

But if there was a plus to this whole thing (besides the, you know, _not being dead_ thing that she still wasn’t certain she was happy about) it was that because Toshiko was still _her_ , she now had the intelligence she’d been lauded for all her life (even if in the latter half of it it was kinda despairing over her not _doing anything productive_ with said intelligence) combined with the utter genius that was a toddler’s unbeatable neuroplasticity. Her brain wasn’t done growing yet - or again, whatever. It hadn’t trimmed down all those wonderful neurons for language development and mirroring and so on that die off so quickly around five or six years old.

Well, in a first-life-human and not shinobi-humans anyway.

While in general Naruto had been filled with a _lot_ of intelligence but very little common sense (kinda like Harry Potter that way) there was something to be said for the on-the-fly calculations taijutsu and ninjutsu in particular require to be effective.

Toshiko had always been competitive.

Based on how her kaa-chan and oji-san were already training her in the guise of play, something that she’d inferred most shinobi families and _every_ shinobi clan did with their kids, that Toshiko was expected to be a kunoichi one day was a foregone conclusion.

If that was the path she was already on - and all signs said it was - and with the dangerous world Naruto was based in, Toshiko was _going_ to be a badass kunoichi or die trying.

Because if she wasn’t, she’ll probably die again _anyway_ and it was absolutely in her nature to go down swinging.

Now if she could just figure out _where_ they were in the shitty, impossible-to-chart filled-to-fucking-heaven-with-plot-holes timeline they were, she would be _golden._

…

_Fuck fuck fuck, pre-Kyuubi Attack, and she was a toddler, FUCK!_

_…_

In her first life, Toshiko wasn’t a frontline, avid Naruto fan.

No, not at all.

She’d found it because one of her friends _had_ been a fan and liked to write fanfiction for it, and she’d gotten hooked on Naruto _fanfiction_ far more than the actual series.

Which, looking back at it, was a problem.

She had a lot of knowledge about the world she was living in and knew most of the major events and characters, but she knew down to the ground that she’d missed a lot of details and nuance and someday that was going to bite her right in the ass.

Add in the problem of needing to try and sort out fanon from actual _canon_ and, well, yeah she _knew_ even less than she could half-remember.

That didn’t, however, end up being an entirely negative part of her second life.

The thing that had been _hers_ in her first life above and beyond anything like intelligence or wasted potential or stubbornness was a certain _creativity_ and flexibility of thought. It was what made her a decent writer and and even better fanfiction writer. She could take a canon world, twist it up and knit new pieces into it and in the end it would look almost nothing like the creation of the originator.

It was a creativity that she’d long thought tended to be mostly _absent_ in a lot of magical fictional worlds, a flexibility that mirrored her original world’s reliance on rigid rules of morals and laws and peer pressure that favored conformity over individuality.

Toshiko stopped asking _why_ when she was still in single digits her first go around, and thereafter favored _why not_ instead.

Add in something like magic or chakra that tended to not just break but _shatter_ and _pulverize_ things like laws of physics, and having a habit of asking _why not_ became Toshiko’s single greatest tool in keeping herself alive and actually _living_ in her new world above and beyond even theoretical knowledge of future changes.

Because as someone who’d written more than _one_ time-travel fix-it, Toshiko knew down to her bones the rules of chaos ripples and how even the smallest of alterations can - and usually _will_ \- twist and warp future events.

At first it wouldn’t matter: she was a toddler, not even close to being even a _minor_ character at the moment.

But later? Once she could do more than basic exercises that she knew from understanding far more than anyone around her realized were early shinobi training? Oh _then_ the ripple effect was likely to hit fast and hard, forcing her to make a wide swathe of changes near-simultaneously before her knowledge was nullified by her mere presence.

Pre-Academy then, even if, if her math was right, she wouldn’t actually be in the same year of any of the characters she’d done any real research on.

According to her recollection, there wasn’t anyone _particularly_ standout in her same age year as depending on how accurate her research was to this world, she _should_ be about two or three years older than Naruto’s generation, which in turn made her either a year or two ahead of Maito Gai’s genin team who were the first standouts following Uchiha Itachi even if not in his same league.

Which was _another_ thing.

If she was stuck in another world, one deadlier in many aspects than her own, and if she survived it she was determined to _live it_...and those Uchiha were a bunch of pretty bastards that had rung _all_ of her bells when she’d been introduced to the Naruto ‘verse.

She was gonna have to get herself one...or two...or a dozen of them for her own.

Well, not a _dozen._

No sane person wants to balance a relationship with _that_ many moving pieces.

Even if her sanity was questionable at the best of times.

That said, if she wanted to bag herself some Uchiha, she’d have to make sure there _were_ Uchiha to hunt down and make her own.

So, needless to say, Shimura Danzo and his elder council fuckheads _definitely_ needed to go.

…

First things first: while her guardians were teaching her what looked like stretching and exercises and practices straight out of a “how to build a baby badass” handbook, Toshiko was frustrated _as fuck_ over not being able to read.

More specifically: not being able to read _any_ form of Japanese for all that she’d somehow absorbed a base for it before she _woke up_ her memories from her first life.

That was _not_ okay.

Reading and reading comprehension had _always_ been where she shone long before she got the idea to start making up her own stories when the ones she was reading no longer satisfied for one reason or another.

(Don’t get her started on representation of minorities of all kinds in mass media...just don’t.)

The _problem_ was that her original language of English was an alphabet writing system while most Japanese was logographic and/or syllabic (except for Romanji, which was the adoption of the Latin alphabet for specific purposes.)

Which meant for Toshiko: a _metric fuck-ton_ of memorization and practice, starting from as soon as she got her tongue around the spoken language well enough for her mother and uncle to get the picture. 

Japanese had _three_ different writing systems, _not_ counting Romanji, and she remembered hearing a statistic once (whether it was true or otherwise she wasn’t sure) that said while learning spoken Japanese wasn’t as difficult as, say, _Welsh_ which was supposed to be one of the hardest, learning to _read_ Japanese took all the way through high school, or twelve years of schooling, in order to read a newspaper front to back.

Thank _fuck_ that she had that little kid learning sponge thing going for her, otherwise she’d have been seriously screwed as learning languages had _never_ been one of her gifts.

But she _had_ to learn it all nonetheless.

As thorough - and _awesome_ , holy shit so much of shinobi life was awesome when it wasn’t being blood-chilling terrifying - as her guardians were, there was a massive amount of knowledge she was going to need, _especially_ if she wanted to kill Danzo and his asskissers and get away with it.

Besides which - if she wanted her Uchiha, she’d have to impress the _fuck_ out of Fugaku and the elders because a clanless kunoichi of no significant wealth or standing marrying into one of the founding clans of Konoha would and _could_ only realistically happen if _she_ was also both awesome and bone-chilling terrifying.

Honestly, she reckoned that nothing short of Kage-level skill, as much power as she could harness, and maybe even a Flee On Sight order in the Bingo books from one of the other Great Hidden Villages would have the Uchiha leadership agreeing to her joining their clan instead of assassinating her for _daring_ to try and poach some of their too pretty for their own good shinobi away from fellow Uchiha brides.

…

It takes her _years_ before she’s ready to take the first step.

She was four years old, already a year in at the temple school that handled the basic education for the non-clan shinobi kids - of which there were a _lot_ more than the anime and even fanfiction had made it seem. Non-clan shinobi were the backbone of the hidden villages from what she could tell. Sure, exceptional ones could and _did_ rise high - there was _no way_ her jounin uncle wasn’t ANBU, especially with how often he went out on solo missions - even become Kage like the Yondaime.

But for the most part, ninety percent of the time the chuunin corps were made up of non-clan shinobi family kids and civilian family kids with the right chakra and personality, while the jounin corps tended to be bulked out with clan shinobi and kunoichi.

Her mother in this world was one of those chuunin corps kunoichi, a member of the Barrier Corps that monitored and powered the chakra protections over the village, and almost everyone that worked with her were also non-clan shinobi.

It wasn’t as cut-and-dried as an official caste or class system, but there were _definite_ undercurrents.

One of which affected Toshiko directly: prodigy non-clan, but not civilian, shinobi and kunoichi students _never_ actually got pegged as prodigious until they were ready to graduate the Academy at a ripe old age (for a prodigy) of eleven or twelve. A minor conspiracy that when Toshiko figured it out, blew her mind. Because while shinobi families outside of the clans didn’t tend to have the _wealth or status_ of the clans, they _also_ didn’t have a reason to show off or brag.

So they hid their geniuses and their prodigies.

They taught them secret keeping and chakra control early, far earlier than other future ninja children, and they kept them _safe_ and _not walking headcases_ from being shoved into active duty like had happened to, say, Hatake Kakashi or Uchiha Itachi.

They protected their standouts, keeping them from burning out - or burning up - under the weight of the expectations of the village and the Hokage.

It was devious _as fuck_ and Toshiko _loved_ everything about the minor rebellion and hidden _fuck you_ that it sent to both the clans and the village leadership.

Toshiko discovered this hidden secret of life in Konoha the hard way, because while training her body in the ways that were required for young ninja-to-be was starkly strange from anything she’d experienced before (and she hadn’t exactly been an inactive lump as a child, including taking karate for several years and being _scrappy_ with it) her mind?

Oh her mind was a different matter.

…

She remembered tenketsu exercises from here, ways to awaken chakra pathways from there, sealing being an _art_ that required a personal flair from this story, touch-transferring seals from _that_ one.

Little by little, she took those pieces of knowledge - canon or otherwise - and sorted through them when she wasn’t undergoing baby-badass training or at the temple school (alright, when they were teaching math at the school, she was _definitely_ focusing elsewhere, she wasn’t _actually_ a young child and just needed to know the names for the numbers, not how to count) separated what she could make work from what she couldn’t from what she might just need more age and experience to handle.

And didn’t even attempt to channel nature chakra, she had no intention of turning into a statue if she got it wrong, thank you _very fucking much._

…

The Kyuubi came when she was just shy of two and a half years old.

Toshiko had never been so terrified in _either_ of her lives between the panicking populace and the oppressive chakra that blanketed the village in sheer _rage_ and hate.

She didn’t know it until a messenger found her mother days later, but her biological father in this world - a civilian merchant, apparently - died in the attack.

With her mother and uncle alive and well if exhausted from the clean up efforts and having half a dozen shinobi piled into their apartment that was one of the intact buildings, she found it hard to care.

Though he’d been an orphan, or so the messenger said, and had left everything to Toshiko, even if most of his assets had been destroyed there was still a bank account.

From the whispers she wasn’t supposed to hear, that was more than the man had done since he’d found out about Toshiko when her mother was pregnant.

None of them mourned, though Toshiko’s mother claimed the inheritance and set it into savings until Toshiko was a legal adult - whether as a genin or by legal age, either way.

Considering her daddy issues from the first go-around, Toshiko didn’t mourn the relationship she didn’t have this time.

The savings would be nice though, so long as she lived to claim them.

…

Sorting through all the different ways fix-its had been managed, all the ways that Danzo-the-Dick met his end in the hands of tricky and wrathful fanfiction writers, it didn’t take Toshiko long - a matter of days really, once she’d decided on a path forward and admitted that _yes this bullshit really was happening_ \- to narrow in on what was going to be the solution she borrowed.

Danzo was a sneaky, twisty, _too smart for anyone’s good_ dangerous motherfucker.

Worse: he was a _connected_ sneaky, twisty, too smart for anyone’s good dangerous motherfucker.

There were two ways to handle him between canon and fanon solutions: direct, full-frontal attacks that aired all his dirty laundry ala Sasuke on the bridge or having him executed by the village; or the second method of a completely secret assassination op.

Given that she was, you know, a grown ass tricksy bitch trapped inside a small child, Toshiko decided on door number two and after considering all kinds of options and nonsense from creating golems as her minions to poisoning (a crapshoot given that Danzo was _Danzo_ and expected that kind of shit) to a multitude of other options, she finally settled on one that was both guaranteed to work and was going to be hard as _fuck_ to actually pull off.

Fuuinjutsu.

Specifically, _touch-transferred_ fuuinjutsu.

Because, who in their right _mind_ , even a tricky bastard like Danzo, would expect a pre-Academy student who could barely count to a thousand (hey, she was working on it, okay?) to even _realize_ such a thing was possible let alone actually _managing_ it.

Which...was the hard as fuck part.

_Actually managing it._

As a result, her focus for her private little one-woman-war quickly shifted to learning fuuinjutsu, even if she had to have help from the adults around her to understand a lot of the theory in the dense scrolls. Couched in seemingly-innocent questions about her _kaa-chan_ ’s work, naturally. But given that she’d carefully cultivated a reputation as a well-mannered little _angel_ of a kid - the sort that could _literally do no wrong_ in the eyes of the adults around her - she was given answers hand-in-hand with adoring glances and head-pats over her “precociousness.”

Condescending as _fuck_ , but hey: answers were answers, so she dealt with it.

Which was kinda how her guardians twigged to the _higher than average intelligence for a child_ thing, that led to private in-home tutoring to keep her under the radar instead of tossed head-first into shinobi life, but meh.

She had an asshole to take down.

It probably said something about her morals from her first life - or maybe that she’d been an introvert that cared for a _very small_ number of people - that the thought of committing what was actually murder no matter how she looked at it didn’t bother her for a moment.

Danzo was a megalomaniac, there was no one else around who was going to stop him, and canon had made it clear that the only who _could_ was so hobbled by sentiment that the Hokage was never going to even with his crimes shoved in the Sandaime’s face like they would be during the whole Tenzo/Kinoe-Kakashi averted assassination affair.

Toshiko had never been of that kind of golden hero school of thinking, far more aligned and interested in anti-heroes and villains who for all their skewed moral codes actually _got shit done_ , so she didn’t let it bother her for long.

She had a goal and an endgame.

If she was going to live in this world, she wanted it to _be_ a world worth living in.

And as long as Danzo still breathed, it was always perched on the precipice of slipping into a state that _no_ one would want to live in as he burned it to the ground in his superiority complex and lust for power.

…

Toshiko, once she knew most of the backstory for Naruto’s titular protagonist, figured from the get-go that he must have been fostered while he was a baby.

Given the depth of neglect and abuse that was either hinted at or outright mentioned in most accounts of his story, there was _no way_ he would’ve survived the orphanage if he’d been place there before he could at least toddle and toilet - which as she’d learned for herself, came faster to shinobi kids than it did regular kids. They weren’t just stronger, faster, more flexible and durable, they developed faster as well. Not the same grade of vanilla human as she’d originally grown up around, that was for sure.

But if it got her out of diapers faster as her muscles developed to allow actual bladder and bowel control, she’d take it, weirdness aside.

Babies needed to be held. They needed human contact. There was _no way_ that if Naruto had been dumped in the orphanage from day one that he would’ve survived, let alone as well adjusted as he was presented in canon.

Since she was almost ready to assassinate a few assholes, who were already starting to push through rules via the council to segregate and aggravate the Uchiha, there wasn’t a whole lot she could do about being proven right about the fosterage when rumors spread that _the demon brat_ had been moved to the orphanage at last two days after the second anniversary of the Kyuubi Attack.

Not that it mattered, since there wasn’t anything she could _do_ about it until Root was handled.

Fuck.

…

There were a lot of things Toshiko didn’t understand about her new life.

Fuuinjutsu?

Making ink and paper and words sing and spin and _dance_ to the tune she called?

Now _that_ she understood all too well.

Somehow, she didn’t think it was a coincidence that one of - if not _the_ \- great sealing master still alive after the purge of Uzushiogakure by Kirigakure during the Second Shinobi War was a prolific and popular fictionist.

…

She started with a simple tracking seal. Already designed to be unobtrusive, Toshiko thought that it was the best place to start with learning how to transfer seals by touch. And it was _far_ less complex than the sort of time-space matrixes that _had_ to go into Hiraishin.

If a twenty-something (or maybe even younger) could figure out _that_ technique _and_ how to transfer it in a touch, Toshiko absolutely _refused_ to believe that she couldn’t figure out something so much simpler...at least in theory.

Well, no one could ever say that she wasn’t stubborn or incapable of being incredibly (and infuriatingly) focused when she set her mind to it.

Chakra depletion is a terrifying concept that amounted to _literally_ burning oneself out by overextending their own lifeforce. Which is what chakra, down to brass tacks, _is._ Lifeforce.

Almost equally terrifying was the realization that the Uzumaki Clan’s _large chakra reserves_ could theoretically expand their lives in ways that her original people could’ve only _dreamed_ of.

If, you know, it wasn’t for that being mostly wiped out and tending to die in combat thing.

Chakra reserves could _also_ be expanded with regular exercise - that much she’d remembered from fanfic and been ecstatic to discover was true - of her tenketsu.

Which was awesome because otherwise even with stripping as much extraneous crap away from the seal she needed for her self-determined assassination mission, most _still_ needed far more control and power than a four year old, even one with an adult's mind and discipline, could ever hope to muster.

The likes of Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Itachi _did not count_ as they were outliers even in a village and a system that produced terrifying shinobi far more often and with greater regularity than any other village could boast.

Her entire plan rested on a single linchpin: Danzo had to die _immediately_.

He didn’t have implanted Sharingan, _yet,_ but there was no telling if he’d started injecting himself and experimenting on himself (instead of on _vulnerable fucking children_ ) with Hashirama’s Mokuton cells.

If he knew he was in danger - more than his normal paranoia anyway - he would be ready at any moment for an assassination attempt.

But at this stage in time _why would_ he consider himself in danger?

His crimes were still hidden in the shadows, he still _knew_ himself to be unseen and untouchable.

That said: she was only going to get _one shot_ and if it failed she could kiss any chance at taking out one of the single greatest threats to her chances of living to retirement age evaporating into thin air.

Taking out the other two elders would undercut _some_ of his support - but not all of it, not if he survived.

In which case it was a damn _good_ thing that she’d picked up quite a bit of medical knowledge in her first life from working in the medical field for a time - and she knew _exactly_ how to turn the body’s systems and its weaknesses against an enemy.

Combine that knowledge with seals, with a timer for Danzo’s two lackeys, and, well.

Granted that she doesn’t die a _very_ ugly and young death by getting caught, and she was actually rather _excited_ to see what changes would come once the roots of Konoha stopped rotting away in the shadows as their Hokage turned a blind eye to it.

Even if it meant her knowledge - other than that of personalities - was rendered useless in the aftermath.

Toshiko had never been a _good_ person.

Far too cynical and perceptive for that.

But she’d never been one to turn a blind eye to suffering right in front of her face or affecting the people she cared about.

She may not have had _power_ most of the time to _do_ anything about it other than being there and trying to support them, but she’d never pretended it wasn’t happening either.

At least in a shinobi world, her having _power_ was a lot less a question of money or status and a lot more of her personal ability to adapt to a world where killing not only wasn’t anathema but was actually _highly encouraged_ under many circumstances.

Toshiko hadn’t the natural genius and tactical abilities of a Nara, the chakra reserves of an Uzumaki, a kekkei genkai or hiden techniques to fall back on like most Clan kids.

 _All_ she had was an adult mind in a chibi body, two guardians who were as fiercely protective as anyone could ever wish, and _resolve._

It would have to be enough.

She’d _make_ it be enough.

Or die again, trying.

Hopefully not at Danzo’s hands though.

 _That_ fucked up old bastard had taken more than _enough_ children’s lives in Konoha, and she wasn’t rushing forward, no matter how it looked, to join those ranks, thank you _very_ fucking much.

…

Utatane Koharu was first.

From the little Toshiko knew, neither of Danzo’s lackeys were particularly talented shinobi, mostly riding the coattails of others, but even so: surviving to the age that the Elders had accomplished wasn’t anything to sneer at when it included a career as an active shinobi, however long ago that was now for them.

During the Kyuubi attack, both Utatane and her partner Mitokado Homura (and fellow asskisser) fought to try and contain the bijuu.

Danzo, notably, did _not._

But while Toshiko hadn’t seen Utatane in action, she _had_ seen Mitokado using massive sealing scrolls to set up barriers and help contain the damage and protect the village.

It was just too bad that they were complicit in so much horrible shit.

Toshiko saved her compassion for those who she felt actually deserved it, however, and highest among those ranks were all the dozens of children who the three Elders had killed either by order or action - outside of an actual battlefield.

Which was perhaps the saddest thing about this world of all.

Hashirama and Madara united to _end_ the deaths of children before they reached double digits, and yet whenever it came to war the graduation age from the Academy was instantly lowered and veritable _babies_ were sent out to be cannon fodder and help cushion the attacks on the more seasoned and powerful adults.

The general philosophy seemed to be _we can always have more children._

Given how many clans had disappeared over the years, including the Uzumaki and Senju who were all but gone and their extreme powers with them, one would think they’d know better than that.

Apparently not.

For Utatane and Mitokado, Toshiko hid the seal application - despite it being a minute use of chakra, designed to latch onto the host’s chakra systems and do its wicked work of carrying an air pocket from the lungs to the heart and brain, causing simultaneous system failures in both organs - with its timer under a bit of itching powder.

A harmless enough “prank” that covered the feel of the seal being applied as Toshiko brushed passed them on the warren of streets that made up Konoha.

Utatane first, then Mitokado a moment later while Toshiko wore a _henge_ of an inoffensive, almost drab, teenaged civilian boy that she based off of the people she was surrounded by everyday.

Danzo was... _trickier_ to say the least.

He also had a habit of observing the children practicing their skills at the Academy, no doubt scoping out possible Root _assets_ which made him easier to predict than he probably realized.

Complacency, Toshiko thought, was probably one of Danzo’s greatest flaws right next to his god complex and completely absent moral character.

Not that she could talk _that_ much about moral character, she was rather remorselessly plotting out and executing the coldblooded murders of three village Elders - which would most definitely be Treason if it was ever discovered - but she’d never claimed to be a saint or doing what she was solely out of the goodness of her heart.

Not at all: she was far too selfish for true altruism.

By the time she brushed passed Danzo as he watched the chibi future shinobi, blending seamlessly into their mass and then slipping away (henge was awesome, especially with her adult mind’s ability to focus on even the smallest details) she had probably practiced and completed transferring seals by touch more than a hundred times.

As Maito Gai said in one of her favorite fanfictions: _don't practice until you get it right, practice until you_ can't _get it wrong._

Words she lived by as she prepared and plotted for years while adjusting to being considered a child, having a child's stamina and body, and learning a new world.

That didn’t mean her neck and back didn’t break out in a cold sweat when Danzo gave a sudden gasp and spasmed, one hand jerking up to clutch at his kimono shirt over his heart as the chuunin Academy instructors rushed to assist him.

Not that it mattered.

By the time a medic-nin arrived from the hospital, Shimura Danzo was dead on the green of the Academy grounds, his greatest supporters both dying minutes before in their homes and discovered by either family or servants.

From what was disseminated to the village later, all three of them had had un-diagnosed heart conditions and age simply caught up with them, particularly Danzo who suffered a heart attack _and_ a stroke nearly in unison.

Whether they ever found evidence of Toshiko’s seals, she remained in the dark about.

Even so: she burned the notebook that had her notes on how to cause those two _particular_ issues via seals, and never used them again where there was even the _slightest_ chance that Konoha could discover it.

The Elders’ estates and offices were locked down immediately, the Hokage himself leading his ANBU in ensuring that any of the _plethora_ of sensitive information that they were expected to have in their possession fell into the wrong hands.

And then _all hell_ broke loose.


	3. Chapter 3

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part One_ **

**Chapter Two: Shadows Burning in the Light**

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, stared across his desk at the Council of Clans - as opposed to the _Council_ which included both civilian representatives and the heads of various administrative departments such as the hospital, academy, and Torture & Interrogation (T&I for short) - that included all of the heads of the major clans and several of the minor founding clans.

He’d never felt his age _more_ than now in the wake of the deaths of his oldest friends.

And the discovery of just _what_ horrors they had enacted with his tacit approval - or at the very least the absence of overt _disapproval._

His bodyguard for the meeting was none other than a teenage member of ANBU who _should_ be among the Council of Clans - but that was one wound that Hiruzen had made his peace with leaving to heal or fester at Kakashi-kun’s will.

_Minato-kun might have succeeded in healing that wound, had he lived. As it was, the Hatake seat remained empty and Kakashi-kun threw himself at suicide mission after suicide mission. He’d made himself a name to be feared across the Elemental Nations, even moreso than he’d done in the War that had shaped him, both as ANBU's Hound and Hatake Kakashai - the Copy-Nin, but at what cost?_

_What cost?_

It was a thought that plagued him as the fullness of Danzo’s actions were dragged out into the light one after another, everything from warmongering and intentionally taking action to extend the length of the Third Shinobi War to kidnapping and brainwashing children until they were emotionless tools to be wielded at Danzo’s whim.

That Danzo had tried to convince Kakashi-kun to assassinate him after Minato-kun’s death, perhaps, should have been a massive warning.

Only Danzo’s inability to properly read and manipulate Kakashi-kun had prevented it, as if there was a single shinobi that could carry out such a thing _alone_ it was likely ANBU’s infamous Hound.

Hiruzen would venture that there were a few Uchiha, Hyuuga, and Nara that could pull it off as well, but the fact was that the Clans were all far too self-absorbed with their internal affairs, for the most part, to bother with such a thing short of Hiruzen trying and failing to have them wiped out as a result of late-onset _insanity_.

Kakashi-kun, on the other hand, had no such responsibilities or distractions, and more than enough self-destructive urges to have been willing to at least try it - if Danzo hadn’t underestimated Kakashi-kun’s loyalty to the Yondaime’s memory _and_ his ability to foresee the long-term consequences of obeying the elder’s will.

“How many dead?” Nara Shikaku, Konoha’s Jounin Commander as well as the head of the Nara Clan, cut through to the core of the matter.

“Of the children involved in both the experiments authorized by the Elders, and Danzo’s Root training,” Hiruzen tapped his pipe on the desk in front of him in agitation. “An accurate account at this time appears impossible but is estimated to be well over a hundred, mostly orphans, but also including Clan children who went _missing_ during the Kyuubi Attack.”

“Well,” Shikaku’s tone was starkly cold and bitter, the only one of the Clan heads able to find their tongue while the others shouted incoherently or seethed. “At least _now_ we know what he was up to while everyone else was fighting or protecting the civilians. And the survivors?”

“We have them.” Yamanaka Inoichi, Shikaku’s teammate and the head of T&I as well as his clan, said, as immovable as bedrock. “Aside from those who died rather than allow themselves to be captured, current estimates say that two dozen will need _reprogramming_ but will never be able or allowed to be reintegrated into village or clan life. They’ll be blunt instruments, able to follow orders _exactly_ and will be exemplary at it, but without agency of their own. Of the rest, we have sixty-two children in need of varying levels of rehabilitation, who absolutely _cannot_ be tossed into the orphanage once we’re done and will need fostering by the Clans whether or not they’re clan children, and another seventeen adults who in _time_ might be able to live semi-normal lives for shinobi, if under observation - also preferably carried out by the Clans.” He pursed his lips then shrugged, even as the other clan heads attempted to swallow those numbers and were appropriately horrified by all the implications. “Shinobi can be amazingly adaptable but also brittle. In a month we’ll have better estimates and a firmer plan for rehabilitation.”

“I have recalled Jiraiya to help with the seal damage.” HIruzen tapped his pipe again. Having seals fail due to their caster’s death was _far_ different from having them removed. From T&I’s report, the eldest members of Danzo’s secret fiefdom had died with him as a result, while the youngest were the least damaged of those who had been sealed and outlived the old war hawk.

“And your _other_ students?” Uchiha Fugaku, head of the police as well as his clan, asked with more than a little derision and disgust.

Given that half the village considered Senju Tsunade a princess and the other half a deserter, while Orochimaru was currently being held while the Council of Clans and the Sandaime decided just _what_ if anything he could be charged with as all of his experiments - no matter how horrifying - _had_ been sanctioned by a (now defunct) legitimate Konoha authority in the Elders, the _tone_ was understandable.

If edging close to insubordination.

Hiruzen truly was too old to be Hokage.

He’d been too old and tired for the position when he’d originally retired and passed the hat to his successor, let alone the toll that the years since Minato-kun’s death had taken since his return to office.

And yet, none of them truly had a choice at the moment, as a ninja with both the power and reputation to stand toe-to-toe with the likes of old Onoki or spitfire A, let alone grasping Rasa or the insanity brewing in Kiri had yet to arise in Konohagakure.

They needed _more time._

Either for one of the current top jounin in the village to distinguish themselves or a young shinobi to do the same.

Kakashi-kun would be _ideal_ if he weren’t so broken, much like Hiruzen’s own students.

But he was, they were, and Konoha’s leadership suffered for it, as this latest debacle has proven in more ways than one.

“Orochimaru _cannot_ be allowed to go free either by banishment or escaping to become missing-nin.” Shikaku was dead-certain on that point, already foreseeing all the myriad of ways _that_ could and would backfire on them. “We either give him a pass and keep him under heavy watch as a researcher - because morally bankrupt or not, he _is_ a genius - or we execute him.”

“Orders or not, his experiments will be giving me nightmares for _years._ ” Inoichi murmured, an oblique reference to his clan’s mind-walking techniques that had him spending hours and hours since Root and Danzo’s depravities had been uncovered combing through the minds of victims of both Danzo _and_ Orochimaru. “Execution. No matter the restrictions we place on him, no matter the precautions, he’s a lethal threat.”

Hiruzen opened his mouth to protest Inoichi’s assessment, only to find himself staring down a dozen sets of eyes that clearly wished he would _dare_ after his allowances towards his _old friends_ had already allowed Orochimaru’s experimentation to go on unchecked and damned him in turn.

“Execution.” Fugaku nodded, eyes flaring with temper - and his Sharingan - for a split second.

“Execution.”

“Execution.”

Forced into a corner by a unity among the most powerful people in the village outside of himself, Hiruzen turned and glanced at Hound, who merely nodded in agreement.

“Hound,” Hiruzen pressed his seal to the order of execution even as his heart wept bitter tears. “See it done.”

Without even a hint of sound to accompany the breeze generated by Hound switching places with another ANBU who would take over as bodyguard for the - hopefully less fraught - rest of the meeting, Hound left.

And saw it done.

…

Toshiko didn’t think it was just her perception - the knowledge that a threat lurking in the shadows like some monster from a fairy tale was dead, even if his influence wasn’t yet truly _gone_ \- that Konoha was distinctly _lighter_ without Danzo hovering in the background and pulling strings.

For certain, though it took months, slowly bit by bit the _tension_ between the Uchiha Clan and the rest of the village dissipated until all that remained was a similar _held above_ sort of aura that was similar to how the Hyuuga were treated and the Senju were spoken of.

Laws segregating the Uchiha in one way or another were quietly overturned, a trickle of children and teens were added to the various clan estates, and her guardians - particularly her uncle - were _distinctly_ less stressed.

It was like a wave of rain had come and smothered a forest fire no one even knew was blazing, burning away dead and rotting vegetation and leaving earth ripe for planting behind.

The civilians were for the most part _very_ confused, not being privy to many of the affairs that were common knowledge among even non-clan shinobi, but eventually they shrugged, moved on, and got on with living in a place that was a military dictatorship on its _best_ day and an armed camp one spark away from imploding on its worst.

In Toshiko’s group of kids from the temple school, she was the only one who had even half a clue about what was going on but she was a cheating cheater who cheated in this instance - and well, most of the time given the givens - so she wasn’t surprised.

If anything, the only thing that truly _surprised_ her about the situation was that Orochimaru was quietly executed without a public trial or anything along those lines.

Given the Sandaime’s often _massively inconvenient_ strain of sentiment regarding those he was personally invested in, it was a shock since she’d figured on it going the same way as what she remembered from Naruto canon.

And the ripples of changes carried onwards.

Nothing was said about either Root _or_ Orochimaru’s bullshit however, which while not a surprise _was_ kinda disappointing even if she’d been banking on Sandaime dumping all of it on either Danzo or Orochimaru to preserve the reputation of the other, depending on which way his sentimentality swung harder on that particular day.

Though given that shinobi villages thrived on secrecy as much as ryo, she’d _also_ be willing to bet that whoever was involved in the cleanup - she was thinking the clan heads, particularly the Ino-Shika-Cho trio if not the Uchiha as well - had the Sandaime by the short and curlies unless he wanted the reputation of both his oldest friend and his favorite student to take a _massive_ hit.

Orochimaru “dying” on a secret mission was one thing, even if she was the only one not directly involved in that situation who knew it for what it was.

Having _all_ of the Danzo/Orochimaru dirty laundry aired would effectively _kill_ any authority that the Sandaime had in the village and likely outside of it - and no matter _how_ pissed off or opportunistic, Toshiko couldn’t see the clan heads actually _wanting_ that to happen since it would be all-but-inviting some asshole to try and start up another shinobi war.

And they weren’t even _close_ to fully recovered from the Kyuubi Attack, though they crept closer each and every day and with every group of genin that joined Konoha’s shinobi ranks.

...

She sent out a fleet of messages once she learned an animation jutsu and was certain it would hold, small origami cranes fashioned of chakra conductive paper bearing ominous tidings forward on the wind to the other four Great Nations and Taki.

_Akatsuki is hunting jinchuuriki. Beware._

And the ripples continued.

…

One week after her first successful mission as a kunoichi - semantics regarding validity aside - saw Toshiko standing outside of a large, beaten down wooden building on the edge of what she thought passed for Konoha’s _Red Light District._

Because _that_ was an appropriate place for a fucking _orphanage._

A trend that she’d noticed in her new life was that there was a much greater emphasis on both personal responsibility starting from a young age as well as collectivism in the Naruto universe. It was something she’d noticed in the series as well, but _seeing_ something and experiencing it personally were two very different things.

Case in point: at four years old, Toshiko never would’ve had an _allowance_ in her first life, let alone been trusted to manage it herself.

It was another in a line of events and actions that pointed to children maturing faster - whether as a species or due to societal expectations - than they’d done for the most part in her old world, much like being trusted to keep her supposed “genius” to herself and those her guardians trusted until she was in her last year at the Academy.

That allowance was going to come in handy, since from what she could remember, Naruto as a little kid lived one _hell_ of a miserable life even after he was removed from the orphanage on entering the Academy, and while the _adults_ around her couldn’t do shit about it without breaking the Sandaime’s laws, _Toshiko_ _was just a kid._

Kinda like getting away with literal murder without anyone taking a second glance at her, Toshiko _fully_ intended on capitalizing on that mixture of loopholes and misperceptions to make sure that Naruto at least got a _motherfucking hug_ from someone without it being a nasty trick - at least someone other than the Hokage and much later Umino Iruka.

If she had a proper read on her mother - Ono Natsuko wasn’t heartless or an idiot - or her uncle, who worked with ANBU and knew a lot more about the shit that got dumped on Naruto given that the kid had a 24/7 ANBU guard, they wouldn’t try and punish or stop her.

And if after her third trip (she’d brought blankets the first time, a _donation_ before cuddling the babies which the matrons apparently thought was cute as fuck even if they tried to keep her from doing the same with Naruto, then another set the second) where she’d managed to scrape up enough ryo for small plush toys for the littles under three and her allowance had _mysteriously_ been increased for her “good behavior and maturity” was any sign, _they_ thought the rules around Naruto were bullshit too. It wasn’t much. Shinobi work paid well, especially for specialties like the Barrier Taskforce and ANBU, but raising a kid wasn’t cheap. They couldn’t give her much extra to help Naruto by way of the orphanage in general.

And they didn’t have the power without being important members of a clan to force the issue with someone who _could_ make sure the orphanage was better outfitted and Naruto was being properly cared for.

Their hands were tied in one way or another.

Toshiko’s weren’t, even if she was in an even _worse_ position for compelling change.

Still, she did what she _could_ while working on her skills and teaching the orphan kids some as well.

It wouldn’t get them out of the orphanage and near-penury for years and years, even if they _did_ turn out to have the right “make” for an actual shinobi, but it was what she could do _now._

And an extra lesson or two on physical fitness or reading/writing never hurt anybody.

She’d didn’t treat Naruto particularly _special,_ that would get her kicked out from the orphanage faster than she could call the head matron a bigoted bitch to her face, but at least in her as long as he was there, he had _one_ person he could count on to treat him just the same as the rest of the kiddos.

She _did_ however always made sure to visit him _last_ which helped appease the matrons and make him seem more of an afterthought than a goal - despite the fact that as a result she tended to spend _more_ time with him rather than less when compared to the other kids.

In time, others noticed what she was doing, it was impossible for them not to given the aforementioned guard.

And that?

That led to one of the weirdest - and most terrifying, she wasn’t afraid to admit - moments of her life, not counting the Kyuubi Attack.

…

On the brightside, while she was _still_ avoiding looking in a mirror, her hair had grown long enough that she knew its color without guessing.

And maybe it - kinda, Naruto wasn’t as weird about brightly colored hair shouting _main character_ as other manga/anime were - had the potential to put a target on her back, but she couldn’t do anything but love it.

She’d bitched _so much_ about puberty leaching out the vibrancy from her hair in her first life. Turning her copper - like a bright new penny - hair into plain, boring golden-ish brown. She even started to go grey early.

Having those penny-bright curls - both of which weren’t the norm for Fire Country and Konoha who tended towards browns and black straight locks except for an outlier here and there like the blond Yamanaka Clan - back _almost_ made having to deal with growing up again worth it.

And Naruto _loved_ it, always going for her hair every chance he got.

She considered it kunoichi training, because sure as sunrise if she wanted to keep her hair long once she graduated from the Academy she needed to be an expert at keeping it out of enemy hands.

When she stopped avoiding mirrors altogether, it was hard to say what she’d look like as an adult, but she immediately noticed that like her hair and skin tone, her eyes were also just the same: dark and true blue, the one thing about her appearance that she’d always loved before, without a hint of grey or green or brown to taint them.

In the end, her coloring was about all she kept, but it also kept her from constantly doing double-takes when she was young and not just adjusted to her new appearance when she saw herself in a mirror, so she was thankful she got to keep even that much of her exterior to match her older-than-her-body mind.

…

The little kunoichi-to-be (he might not have _actually_ met her but Viper was as proud of an uncle as anyone Kakashi had ever met, and had easily identified her) was there again.

She’d been coming like clockwork for _weeks,_ bringing gifts for the orphans, then coming more and more often as the matrons (and the unholy terrors they watched over) failed to run her off.

Once a week she brought gifts still, sometimes little tokens like a piece of candy for each of the children, sometimes bigger items like toys for the youngest kids or a new shirt for each of the older ones that went a _long_ way to keeping the kids from trying any bullshit, the same with the matrons.

Again - Viper wasn’t a subtle man outside of his ANBU mask - the latter at least would be _idiots_ to try anything with the niece of Ono Nobu who while not having the infamy of Kakashi, definitely wasn’t a shinobi to toy with, if such a thing could be said of _any_ of them.

Civilians didn’t always remember that bit.

At least the ones overseeing what was, for the most part, a shinobi recruitment ground didn’t seem to have that problem.

It sucked, no two ways about it, but the truth of the matter was that orphaned kids who could keep up and had the chakra usually tended to jump at the chance to join the Academy since as far as prospects went, they _literally_ didn’t get better than a shinobi career for kids without parents or prospects otherwise.

The matrons _also_ knew they were being watched at the Hokage’s behest, so if there _was_ any bullshit going on, it was officially on hold until Naruto was pulled out of orphanage when he joined the Academy, as was the current plan, and was moved into an apartment paid for by the Hokage (and he thought Jiraiya, maybe, but given that Naruto’s official godfather hadn’t _exactly_ leapt in to take care of the kid despite being the _one_ person that no one could argue with about the matter, Kakashi wasn’t certain) in the lowest-rent shinobi district.

A coppertop if there ever was one - and wasn’t _that_ curious given that Viper was a blond and his sister a brunette - with truly unique coloring marrying that bright hair to dark blue eyes, darker but just as brilliantly colored as Naruto’s ocean blues, with fair skin that ran pinker than the likes of the Uchiha or the Hyuuga. She was going on five years old and tagged for the Academy according to Viper’s bragging, with a distinct _softness_ that could turn diamond-hard in an instant if crossed. He’d seen it for himself the first time she came when Kakashi was on duty as Hound and one of the matrons tried to shoo her out of Naruto’s room after playing with the rest of the little kids.

Sweet as a song until provoked, then she’d whip around on her opponent with a swiftness her uncle’s codename would admire, Kakashi was honestly stumped when it came to her behavior no matter how _endearing_ or _sweet_ or _caring_ the rest of the ANBU found it.

ANBU who one and all had yet to inform the Hokage about the orphanage’s visitor.

In their defense: he never asked and the parameters of their guard duty only required them to report threats to Naruto’s health and safety.

Many things could be attached to Ono-chan’s behavior, but Kakashi didn’t _think_ she was playing a long game or setting Naruto up for kidnapping or assassination.

And not because she was only four years old the way the rest of the guards did.

_He’d_ been an advanced four year old, and he knew what intelligence no matter how carefully hidden by herself and her guardians looked like.

She was often the smartest person in the room except around adult, seasoned shinobi or he’d eat a kunai wrapping and all.

If so, Kakashi didn’t blame either her _or_ her guardians.

He knew what being labeled as a _prodigy_ meant in Konoha literally better than anyone else alive. He wasn’t exactly the picture of a _well-adjusted_ shinobi by any stretch of the imagination. And the less said about _Orochimaru_ the better.

In an effort to recognize - and capitalize - on the talents of prodigies, many of them were riddled with mental health issues (as Inoichi liked to rant all too often) long before they would’ve been legally allowed to drink as civilians as a result of the expedited training and exposure to death, bloodshed, and killing compared to others in their age groups.

Shinobi with the power and resolve to make jounin usually tended up with _quirks_ regardless, but none would deny that the more powerful one is and the sooner they were brought into the shinobi lifestyle, the worse those quirks tended to be.

The less said about Gai’s green spandex and orange leg warmers the better.

Kakashi however, couldn’t figure out what Ono-chan’s _deal_ was, no matter how he thought about it.

So, Kakashi being Kakashi, he decided to ambush her and see what she let slip.

If it were any other assignment, he would have kept it to observation.

But it wasn’t any other assignment.

It was sensei’s legacy.

The sensei he _failed_ and because of the Sandaime’s laws, the one he _kept_ failing.

He couldn’t do anything for Naruto, he wasn’t allowed.

What he _could_ do was make sure that a girl who was slowly wrapping Naruto around her little finger wasn’t a threat to him.

In any way, shape, or form.

…

Kakashi held his patience until the next time he was free from either a mission or guard duty - which wasn’t often as depleted as Konoha’s forces had become after the Third Shinobi War followed a mere two years later by the Kyuubi Attack - to meet Ono-chan and ask his questions.

He timed it carefully: Viper was on a mission outside the village and Ono-chan’s mother Ono-san was on duty, Ono-chan considered mature enough to spend the night alone at the secure apartment - so long as Ono-san’s friend down the hall checked on her throughout the night.

Ono-san’s position on the Barrier teams made slipping inside harder than it would be otherwise, the intelligent kunoichi trapping the apartment’s entrances and exits - including the small bathroom window - with an expertise that showed exactly how she’d gotten her placement on the well-paying if not-exciting taskforce.

Ono-san, however, _wasn’t_ a seal master even close to the abilities of the likes of Jairaya, Minato-sensei, Kushina-chan, or even Kakashi himself so what would normally be painstaking work to untangle the protections and slip into the apartment took Kakashi less than five minutes to manage.

Kakashi didn’t have the _flair_ of a true seal master, being rather rigid and utilitarian much to Minato-sensei’s despair, but he still knew as much about the art as could otherwise be taught.

Though he _was_ impressed by the protections, and though he saw a bit of Viper’s infamous viciousness, for the most part all of the work was done with a steady but creative hand.

Not unlike Ono-san’s daughter and her way of skipping merrily around the Sandaime’s laws regarding Naruto.

A daughter who looked up to find Kakashi crouched on the inner windowsill of her living room, ANBU mask and armor and all, and barely _blinked_ at his presence despite the brief widening of her eyes and what he’d bet good ryo was Ono-chan swallowing down an instinctive scream.

“I thought someone would come, eventually.” Toshiko said, voice wobbling only a _bit_ over ANBU’s _Hound_ \- Hatake Kakashi himself in all his ridiculous silver-haired glory - watching her like a living gargoyle and the resulting shockwave of brief but vivid terror. “With the way the matrons are about Naru-kun.”

“What is your interest in the Uzumaki child?” Kakashi kept his tone even, though he lowered it a register into what most recruits to black ops call the ANBU rasp that helps maintain their identities. Much like their masks and wearing hoods or caps to conceal their hair if its an obvious identifier like Kakashi’s when they’re out on missions.

“He’s a baby.” Toshiko said with brutal honesty. “And everyone hates him. Even the other kids, because they see how the matrons act and follow their lead. Babies _need_ touch and attention and affection. Naru-kun doesn’t have anyone to give him that anymore. Except for me. And I don’t lose anything for hugging a _baby_ and making sure he has a teddy.”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.” Toshiko gave a little shrug, feeling a lot less _threat_ coming off of Kakashi and a lot more bemusement based on how his shoulders uncoiled and his head cocked to the side. “Mama says that being a shinobi sometimes means protecting people who can’t protect themselves. I’m not a kunoichi yet, so I can’t _make_ people treat Naru-kun nice. But I can make sure he isn’t left alone all the time like he was before.”

She didn’t smell like a liar.

Fair enough.

With a little whip-up of wind, Kakashi _shuushin’d_ out the window, a small scattering of leaves left behind him.

And if Viper suddenly found himself getting small “donations” from his fellow ANBU members to pass to his niece, well, what the Council didn’t know wouldn’t hurt anyone.

Even if some nights Kakashi _ached_ that it had fallen onto the shoulders of a little girl to step up where everyone else, Kakashi included, had failed Minato-sensei and Kushina-chan over and over and over again.

…

_Naruto asked me once, when we were both adult shinobi and he understood the excuses - not reasons, never reasons - behind all the neglect and hate and bigotry and even abuse that he’d suffered, if I_ knew _when I found him crying in that orphanage that day who he was._

What _he was._

_Naruto wasn’t an idiot for all that he could be reckless and thoughtless._

_By then he knew about my biological father, the civilian who died and left me a modest inheritance._

_The civilian who died during the Kyuubi Attack._

_By then he knew_ me _well enough to believe that at four years old it_ wasn’t _outside the realm of possibility that I could’ve put the pieces together and known from the start who the crying toddler being ignored by the matrons was before I decided to pick him up and give him a cuddle._

_I didn’t lie, I told him I knew. Told him about the rumors that flew around about his placement in the orphanage._

_I also told him that it never mattered - not to me._

_He was a little, and as far as I was concerned littles were supposed to be loved - even if it didn’t always work out that way._

_He just beamed one of those bright grins of his at me, big eyes that I’d_ sworn _I wasn’t going to get attached to sparkling, and said he_ loved me too.

_Frustrating little brat._

_Who the fuck did he think he was, calling me out like that?_

_Naruto pointed and laughed at my expression, shit-starter that he was, always looking to get a rise out of people for the fun of it._

_So I smacked him off the curved village wall we were wandering with a thump of my steel staff, and heckled him all the way as he tumbled ass over teakettle down to the forest below._

_Served him right._

_Infuriating little asshole, I should’ve fucked off to Suna until he was done with his teenage years._

_It would’ve been massively less aggravating._

_Even with the scorpions and wind-burn._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 10 October 2020 - Inconsistency with Toshiko's age in comparison to other characters.

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part One_ **

**Chapter Three: Both Better and Worse**

It might seem weird that Toshiko’s guardians were willing to leave her home alone while they were taking shifts or out on missions, but when the utter _awesomeness_ that was her kaa-chan’s sealing skills came into play, it really really wasn’t.

(Kakashi just _waltzing_ through them doesn’t count, there were some people in her new life that she’d accepted back when she was still working on potty training herself that normal rules just didn’t apply to. Genius shinobi were _all_ of them. She assumed that Kakashi kept _doing_ so too, as while he’d appeared appeased by her answers, shinobi in general were a bunch of rightfully-suspicious assholes.)

Then, adding the whole society-based-on-teaching-kids-to-kill thing into the mix, kinda just topped it off.

Now, there were other shinobi kids that lived in their neighborhood - hell there were some on their same floor in their same building - who _wouldn’t_ be left home alone for any span of time unless/until they graduated the Academy and maybe not even then.

There was a responsibility/maturity grading curve involved that Toshiko _absolutely_ took advantage of to get some fucking time to herself.

Turning five and being enrolled in the Academy three months later at the beginning of the new enrollment year only made that an ever-more-pressing part of her week.

Because while for the most part she could _play_ the sweet, mature little hidden-prodigy for her guardians and the others, or the caring little volunteer at the orphanage (which played into her angelic child persona that was so _very very_ vital to her staying under the radar and not ending up locked in the T&I dungeon) she was _not_ actually either of those things.

Well, not entirely.

She _did_ care about the orphans. She _was_ more mature than others her physical age. But in the depths of her spiteful little heart, she was _not_ an extrovert or a people person and wanted nothing more than some peace-and-fucking-quiet to read or study or even fucking _meditate_ without eyes on her.

Three months after she turned five, she started at the Academy and promptly started following the sterling example of how to underachieve: that of the Nara Clan and their napping habits.

As a non-clan shinobi kid, Toshiko had been placed in the middle of the pack for the first year, Class 1C, with the other kids from non-clan families for the most part.

First year at the Academy, apparently, was divided up into several - in her case five - classes based on their entrance tests and baseline abilities. There was quite a bit of shuffling during the first week. Kids who didn’t test well on paper moving up, kids who needed a _lot_ more help in physical skills than the teacher could handle moving down, and so on. They would keep getting shuffled up and reshuffled for the next few years as kids dropped out or were sent to study for non-active shinobi support roles like hospital staff that didn’t leave the village or who were earmarked for the Genin Corps that fed into the main body of the Chuunin Corps.

It was rare that a kid who went to the Genin Corps - either from being selected early or from failing the jounin instructor test like in the anime - ever made jounin or tokujo rank.

No, the elite ninja of the village almost entirely came from those who graduated the Academy and went on to study under jounin instructors: that was the whole point.

Nine new potential jounin every year, with maybe three of them ending up tokujo, three career ANBU, and the last three active field jounin.

Not that anyone spelled that out for her, but even when she didn’t _know_ things because they weren’t properly fleshed out and explained in the anime, Toshiko wasn’t a fucking idiot and could spot that sort of shit from a mile away.

Like how the top class, Class 1A, was filled out with Clan Heirs whether major or minor, or kids from the main families from the Clans.

And despite it being originally the smallest in number, those major clan kids didn’t end up having new kids moved in or some of their own moved out until there was _literally no other choice_ for the Academy but to merge them into the general population of students - which based on the make up of the upper years would be around year three or four depending on how tenacious the bulk of the civilian kids were.

But overall things were fine.

Naruto turned three, she kept visiting him and giving him little lessons and treats (that she hid from the matrons) when he proved that he worked on tasks she set him between visits.

He was also the most _unfairly adorable_ creature she’d ever seen in _her life_ when he beamed up at her, but that was neither here nor there.

She observed _some_ problematic crap regarding how the adults around him treated him, but nothing that was outright abusive or neglectful to the point that she or Naruto’s guards could report it and have something done about it. There was nothing that _required_ them to treat him with care or affection. Just that he was fed, clothed, and housed. There wasn’t even a requirement that they educate him, since education in the Elemental Nations, from what she could tell, was entirely the prerogative of a child’s guardians.

In some ways, Konoha was frightfully modern - like the respect given to kunoichi and female Clan heads, or even that those were even _options_ in the first place, or the tvs and radios that speckled the village - and in others such as children still being literal _property_ of their guardians and many of the laws they were frustratingly archaic.

Arranged marriages were common among the civilian population and some (but not all) of the shinobi clans.

Literacy was hit-and-miss.

And then of course there was the kill-or-be-killed attitude that was pervasive across the entire world with the rare exception of a few pockets of pacifist monks and the like.

There _were_ worse worlds she could’ve ended up in, but her new home was hardly idyllic for all that she saw that it wasn’t her duty or responsibility to _attempt_ to change its culture just because there were parts of it she didn’t agree with.

And she wasn’t kidding herself: at best it would be an attempt.

One person, no matter how powerful or influential, _could not_ rewrite an entire world’s philosophy.

Life just didn’t work that way.

Instead she focused on what she _could_ do: teaching and caring for Naruto in the _hope_ that he would be less easily manipulated and trusting than in canon and making sure that his truly enormous potential as a ninja wasn’t stunted by the treatment, neglect, and disdain of the village.

Her first year of Academy was almost done - with _plenty_ of at-home supplementation from her mother and uncle in everything from sealing to her uncle’s favorite weapon: the bow, now that he considered her old enough to start learning it - when it all came crashing down.

Because she’d forgotten that just because she took out a _major_ player in Danzo didn’t mean that the other major players wouldn’t still act just the same.

Or be even bolder without the old war hawk and his private army to fear.

The bottom dropped out when she was almost six years old and life reminded her of what it was to grieve all at the whims of a powerful man.

Life hadn’t needed to remind her how to _hate._

If her first life hadn’t taught her that well enough then watching how the village treated a sweet little boy would’ve been more than enough in that regard.

All it had done in that respect was give her a _target_ for the wrath that rattled inside her chest.

And its name was _Kumogakure._

…

Toshiko knew about the Hyuuga Affair.

It was a side-plot that pertained quite a bit to explain Kumo’s relationship with Konoha (along with the attempted kidnapping of Uzumaki Kushina) as well as the primary Hyuuga characters in Naruto.

It was a sad story: attempted kidnapping, Hyuuga Hiashi saving his daughter but killing her kidnapper _who might've been the fucking Raikage, reports differed_ in the process, and Hyuuga Hizashi taking the fall as his Caged Bird Seal would prevent Kumo from harvesting his eyes for their dojutsu from his _fucking corpse._

Even as an adult, as someone who understood politics and wrote some twisty political bullshit in quite a number of stories, Toshiko had _never_ understood why the Sandaime had buckled to Kumo’s demands, death of a Kage or not - or maybe not the death of a Kage, the exact sequence of events and who killed who was a little muddled on her end.

For a man who’d supposedly devoted his _life_ to protecting his village, it had never sat right with her, his overwhelming tendency for peace at _any cost_ hand-in-hand with being willing to sacrifice any one of the shinobi who _trusted him_ to have their best interests in mind on the altar of pacifying the other Kage - so long as it was never one of _his_ precious people under the knife.

With the Clans having more power following the deaths of the Sandaime’s main advisors - as well as significantly more leverage over him - than originally, she hadn’t even _considered_ that the Hyuuga Affair might still be an issue.

Or maybe she’d just gotten complacent herself, after deriding Danzo for the exact same thing, that with Danzo dead there wasn’t any major issues on the horizon until Naruto was a genin.

The village had been tense, leading up to the signing of the peace treaty between Konoha and Kumo. They hadn’t been in _outright_ war since the end of the Third Shinobi War, more like a cold war. Still, the peace treaty was something that everyone was anxious for, even as the idea of having a team of Kumo-nin inside Konoha had everyone on tenterhooks.

Which meant Toshiko spent a _lot_ of time with her neighbors, as her mother was working overtime with the Barrier Corps and all of ANBU (including her uncle, for all that she wasn’t supposed to know that) were on duty or ready for activation at a moment’s notice.

So, when the third night of the signing summit, the alarms all over Konoha went off and the village went into lockdown, Toshiko closed her eyes tight and cursed.

All she could do with _this_ was hope that whatever happened, the Sandaime didn't buckle to Kumo this time.

That the change she’d made had been _enough._

(It was, and it wasn’t, which in the end when she looked back on how things had turned out at the end of her life, was pretty much par for the course.)

…

“Toshi-chan.”

Waking up from a troubled sleep in their neighbor’s apartment, Toshiko felt a black pit roar to life in her stomach at the sight of a weary Nobu-ji crouching next to her bed.

Her uncle was a large man with broad features - attractive, even handsome, but a bit rawboned and gruff - with hands the size of dinner plates that probably could’ve palmed a basketball in her first life. He had a good (if dirty, though she wasn’t supposed to realize that for all that her kaa-chan smacked him for it anyway) sense of humor, smoked what passed for Fire Country cigarettes though he hid it from his sister, and was one of the tallest men in the village. He told stories about pranks shinobi pulled on each other, could be blunt to the point of rudeness, and adored his sister and her daughter.

A daughter who was staring up at his reddened eyes and slumped shoulders with a dread and almost _knowing_ that he couldn’t bring up the energy to be surprised about.

Toshi-chan _had_ been a surprise, almost from the first.

An adorable, normal baby, she’d taken the looks she’d gotten from both sides of her family and come out looking unique, favoring neither side.

Smart as a whip, when they’d realized just _how_ smart Toshi-chan was, both of them had been scared on her behalf.

Nobu was in ANBU, had been recruited early due to his temperament and unique skill set passed down by their parents, and he _knew_ better than anyone what happened to children that showed _too_ much potential above the norm.

His sister Natsuko and he had sat down when Toshi-chan learned to speak far earlier than most children, followed by learning to read - though writing took longer to follow, little hands struggling a bit with calligraphy - and absorbing all of Natsuko’s lessons on sealing like a damn _sponge._

Teaching her to _act_ like a normal shinobi child had been a major part of her education at first, since while Toshi-chan had no problem intentionally messing up on tests and homework once they’d explained _why_ , her issues socializing with other kids _as_ a kid were...shaky.

So much so that when she decided to start visiting the orphanage and all-but-adopted the Kyuubi Container, well, while that might’ve given other shinobi pause, Nobu and Natsuko were just happy that spending time around the other kids helped her learn how to pretend to be on their same level.

If she’d had older siblings or cousins or even almost-cousins from their friends’s potential kids, it wouldn’t have been nearly as apparent, she was too quick _not_ to know how to mirror and adapt, as her picking up how to play the perfect little angel showed.

Toshi-chan was an old soul.

Not as odd and detached as the Uchiha Heir, who’d recently activated his Sharingan, a prodigy who was _very_ much the pride of his Clan, but definitely not a normal little girl either.

She saw too much for that.

Knew too much and picked up undercurrents that most children would ignore and never register in the first place.

All Nobu and Natsuko could hope for was that it didn’t result in her turning cynical and bitter like some shinobi could become - _like Orochimaru, another prodigy who’d never quite fit with other children_ \- though she seemed happy enough to lavish attention on her chosen little jinchuuriki _kohai_ and easily dispensed hugs to her family.

As a result, Nobu wasn’t surprised when Toshi-chan took one _look_ at his face that _horrible night_ and her cute little face crumpled and tears filled her eyes.

Nobu picked her up off her borrowed futon, tears and soft sobs being hidden by her ducking her face into the curve of his neck, and nodded to their neighbor, carrying her away.

Natsuko didn’t have long according to the medics.

Toshi-chan at least deserved a chance to say goodbye.

A darkly satisfied sneer crossed his face as he _shuushin’d_ away to the Konoha Hospital.

It would be more than that _cocksucking Kumo trash_ would get.

Viper was a _hunter._

The last of the true ranks of Konoha’s rare solo hunter-nin, who would - and _have_ \- tracked missing-nin from all the villages and across all the Elemental Nations without help or support for months or even years at a time.

They could run.

But if Viper had anything to say about it, all but the Raikage himself wouldn’t even _make it_ back to hide behind the walls of their village.

He wasn’t fool enough to believe he could kill a Kage.

But those _motherfuckers_ that helped him break into the Hyuuga Compound and attempt to kidnap the heiress, killing several Konoha-nin in the process, including Nobu’s precious sister and Toshi-chan’s beloved mother?

The Sandaime could say all the liked about _peace._

Viper would feed them their _hearts_ and hang them from their own intestines for orphaning his little niece.

And if he couldn’t?

If they moved too fast, if he was too slow, if the Sandaime put him under guard?

Well then, the Ono family would simply _wait._

One day Toshi-chan could take her revenge for Natsuko’s death herself.

And Viper would do _everything_ within his power to make sure that she was ready to strike the very _instant_ that they poked their heads outside of Kumo’s borders.

…

The exact sequence of events - from what everyone reported or could piece together - went like this:

Together with his entourage, except for his main advisor, an elder who remained at the Inn that had been turned over to the Raikage’s party, the Raikage had set off several distractions designed to pull guards away from Western side of the village where the Hyuuga and Uchiha Compounds were both located. Then the Raikage with his main guard slipped into the Hyuuga compound first with the intent of kidnapping the Heiress. The guard would take the child and run, while the Raikage waited for the alarm to be raised over her to repeat the action at the Uchiha Compound, only going for the younger Uchiha child rather than the trained-shinobi Heir.

The _first_ part went right, as many of the guards and ANBU responded to the alert on the eastern side of the village.

The second...not so much.

Together with the Sandaime, the Clan Heads had done an _impeccable_ clean-up job on the entire Orochimaru/Danzo affair, including that his Root forces (the ones that could be rehabbed) had been folded back into their clans.

Most of the Clan Heads, not being _fucking idiots_ , immediately assigned these dangerous and lethal shinobi as guards for their vulnerable heirs and heiresses.

The Raikage expected to slip in unnoticed to the Hyuuga Compound and back out easily.

He _wasn’t_ expecting two Root-Trained “retired” ANBU-level operatives to drop down on their heads the _moment_ they opened the door to the heiress’s bedroom.

The Raikage was taken alive.

His companion was _not._

A situation that played itself out across the village as well, when the two distraction teams found themselves under attack and desperate to escape, one member of the Barrier Corps killed on-scene and another dying in the hospital within a day.

It was, to put it bluntly, a _massive clusterfuck_ that obliterated any chance of peace between Kumo and Konoha, with the two villages returning to a cold-war status much like they already possessed against Iwa and Kiri.

It was also an embarrassment for Kumo, the Sandaime Raikage stepping down months later and his son taking his place with his adopted brother Killer Bee at his side as his most loyal guard.

…

“ _Kaa-chan,”_ Toshiko said softly as Nobu-ji set her down on the side of her mother’s bed.

She didn’t have to ask what had happened.

The electrical burns and Kumo having a tendency for Lightning Release techniques painted a simple - if ugly - picture.

“My Toshi-chan,” Natusko smiled weakly up at her beautiful little girl. Smart, fierce, and unflappable, having her daughter was the best thing she ever did. Under Nobu-nii’s guidance Natusko was certain in her belief that Toshiko would be a kunoichi to be feared, maybe even forge a legend equal that of Tsunade-sama.

If, hopefully, without such a heartbreaking ending.

“I love you, kaa-chan.”

And she did.

She really, _really_ did.

Loving people had never been something she had trouble with.

If anything, she’d always loved too fast, too deep, and too firmly than the opposite.

Naruto’s easy ability to squirm his way inside her shields was _definitely_ a sign that she hadn’t lost that trait under the strain of her new circumstances.

“I love you too, Toshi-chan.” Natusko murmured, heart beating weakly after the strain of being hit with multiple raiton attacks by desperate Kumo-nin. Only luck had allowed her to survive long enough to say goodbye. “Remember darling: be strong, and kind when you can.”

“Yes, kaa-chan.”

“Take care of her, Nobu-nii.”

“Always, _imoto._ As best I can.”

“Good. That’s...good…”

“ _Kaa-chan!”_

…

“She’s a fierce little thing.”

Nobu didn’t bother turning his head to see who’d come to join him as he watched over his niece’s taijutsu practice in the children’s practice area behind their apartment complex.

He’d known - and turned a blind eye, trusting this particular shinobi when it came to his niece, given who she’d chosen to mentor despite any and all opposition - that Hatake was keeping an eye on her. He couldn’t blame him. In Hatake’s position, he would’ve done the exact same thing.

He’d also been smart enough to take advantage of Toshi-chan’s stubbornness to benefit his _own_ charge, despite the Sandaime’s laws that made actually _taking up said charge_ impossible until the last Uzumaki in Konoha reached either fifteen or became a chuunin under Sarutobi-sama’s rules.

He personally wouldn’t want Hatake _raising_ a child alone, the man was fucked up even for ANBU shinobi, but as a silent guardian and/or watcher both Uzumaki and Toshi-chan could do _far_ worse than the infamous Copy-Cat Nin, Kakashi of the Thousand Jutsu.

“Always has been.” Nobu stated with - deserved, in his opinion - pride as Hatake’s spikes of silver hair came into the line of his peripheral vision. “Try and put up a wall in front of her and she’ll climb it, knock her down and she’ll dig under it, push her too far,” he smirked. “And she’ll just blow the fucker up.”

Hatake grunted, watching the - fuck, Nobu couldn’t believe she was _eight_ already, it seemed like yesterday she was joining the Academy and being orphaned before the year was even over - kunoichi-to-be who was halfway through her Academy training.

He turned to leave, going back to - whatever it was Hatake did when he wasn’t on a mission or stalking either Nobu’s niece or her sunny blond minion, and who’s bright idea was it to let the brat live alone, anyway? - his own affairs, but not before tossing a scroll idly at Nobu’s head.

A _bojutsu_ scroll, as it turned out when Nobu opened it, that had a container scroll with a set of both training and actual weapons-grade bo staffs tucked inside.

“Hatake-san...what the hell?”

“She’s fine with throwing weapons, set to be terrifying with a bow,” like her uncle, went unsaid. “But will never be more than fair with a sword.” Kakashi explained, tone completely bored. “You’re on your own finding her a teacher.”

With that Kakashi disappeared so fast even his fellow ANBU operative was impressed.

He’d been trying to figure out for _years_ a way to start balancing the debt he owed one stubborn little girl.

A stubborn little girl who spent time - every day now that Naruto lived alone - teaching and training Naruto, giving him the help that the Academy couldn’t or wouldn’t afford to just one child and that most of the others received at home.

Kakashi’s hands were still tied.

He figured Minato-sensei and Kushina-chan would be having _words_ with the Sandaime over that when the old man finally died.

Little did he know, but Kakashi set himself up for the _biggest headache ever_ that day.

Even if it would be years yet before he figured it out.

…

A bright, happy laugh was the harbinger of the cry of _“Nee-chan! Nee-chan!”_

It was a welcome that Toshiko had quickly gotten accustomed to (and even helped lift some of the still-lingering grief of all her lost family, including the most recent loss of her kaa-chan in this world) greeting her when she picked up Naruto from the swings outside the Academy.

There’d been a little trouble over that at first when Naruto joined her at Academy when she was starting her third year.

Teachers who sneered - both at him _and_ at her - and actually made hiding her intelligence in plain sight behind her obstinacy a lot easier as the teachers who were pissed off about her befriending the “demon brat” weren’t inclined to notice anything positive about her.

Or about him.

Thank the Sage of the Six Paths for Iruka being at first Naruto’s teacher assistant and then later flat-out his teacher, or else Toshiko might’ve been moved (cough, _again)_ to murder.

 _But_ while there was some teasing or attempted bullying by the civilian kids towards Naruto, that shit was quickly shut down when they realized he had an older sister-figure who could wipe the floor with the little shits (in his same year at least) if she was so inclined.

(The first day of school when Naruto met her at the swings with tears in his eyes and a torn-up backpack, she _was so inclined_ and the half-hearted scolding from Nobu-ji was _worth it.)_

Naruto didn’t have as much time to land himself in trouble or lash out via pranks against the villagers. (That was better.)

Due to having Toshiko around he _realized_ a lot sooner that people had issues with him in particular quicker than he probably did originally. (That was worse.)

Because he had at least a couple of people who cared about him and showed it, Naruto was less desperate for attention by any means. (That was better.)

 _But_ because she’d put herself in his path, he knew the difference between _shows_ of affection and _actual_ affection and was a lot less susceptible to the Sandaime’s manipulations...and _that_ had the potential to be _much much worse_ , especially if Naruto’s loyalty to Konoha was ever brought into question.

He was still hyper and had problems paying attention at times, he was just a kid after all, was far too cheerful to be real, and still had an unfortunate attachment to the color orange.

 _(“Nee-chan’s hair is awesome! And orange!” “My hair is_ copper, _Naru-kun, not orange.” “Nani? What’s the difference?” “Just...trust me, Naru-kun, there is one.”)_

What she did by taking him under her wing wasn’t meant to _change_ Naruto’s personality or character, just give him an even base to start from instead of a totally fucked-over beginning shaped by abuse, neglect, and manipulation.

“Hello, Naruto-kun,” Toshiko smiled as she greeted the little ball of sunshine and hyperactivity that was her kinda-little brother.

Naruto grabbed hold of her hand as soon as he bounced back from a quick hug, their arms swinging between them as they turned and walked towards the Ono apartment.

He _had_ to live at the apartment assigned to him as an orphan until he made genin, the Sandaime had been clear about that to Naruto as well as Nobu-ji when he’d made the offer to move the kid out of the orphanage when he started the Academy. After a bit of trial and error during the first month he’d done so, they’d figured out that the Sandaime won’t say anything about it as long as he spent four nights out of seven there. Or, more than half. The other three nights a week, he spent with Toshiko and Nobu, and everyone in the shinobi district just kinda looked the other way.

Toshiko didn’t know if it was the Council that forced that, or if it was the Sandaime, either way, between her and her uncle (and Naruto who was getting more and more sneaky as he got older, especially with actual help) they’d come up with all kinds of ways to work around the letter of the law regarding Naruto.

“How was your day today?”

Their routine was simple enough.

Together Naruto and Toshiko - with or without Nobu-ji depending on if he was away on a mission or not, which happened more often now that she was older and almost a genin than it did right after she’d been orphaned - would do a simple shop after Naruto got his orphan’s stipend at the beginning of the month. They would get his needed school supplies (mainly paper, notebooks, and pencils, but during the sealing module he’d needed ink and brushes), new clothes if needed, and a stock of shelf-stable breakfast items. Plus instant cup-ramen since, yeah, that was a thing even if his appreciation was more _favorite food_ and much less _eternal obsession_ than in canon. They would take it to his run-down apartment, and Toshiko or Nobu would put it under security seals in his cupboards even if the ones they’d put on the door and windows protected the apartment in general.

Naruto got lessons in budgeting and saving, which was actually possible for a simple reason: no one was price gouging the kid under her watch and he ate two meals a day with the Ono family courtesy of the mysterious “allowance” increases that had been funneled into a feeding-a-bottomless-pit fund. He didn’t know where that money was coming from or that it even was a thing that was happening out of his sight. But he didn’t need to know either.

Kids shouldn’t have to constantly worry about _how_ they were going to be fed, they should just _be fed_ even if it was on simple filling nutritious things and not take-out or fancy food.

Toshiko wasn’t sure how long the Naruto-fund was going to happen, however, and if the ones donating it to her uncle were going to stop once he made genin in a couple years: hence the lessons on budgeting and saving.

On the plus side however, once he made genin she could just move his little butt into their apartment instead of having to play this stupid-ass game with the Sandaime and/or Council, so there was that.

Anyway, she digressed.

(“...and then Ino-chan _screamed_ at Shikamaru-kun, her voice _really_ hurt my ears, nee-chan, and then Sakura-chan _shrieked_ and it was bad and Iruka-sensei made this _face…”)_

Naruto waited for her everyday after classes, and they walked to her home where they’d do homework after a snack - no matter how much Naruto complained about having a mean nee-chan at that point - and then whatever exercises or extra work Nobu-ji planned for them. Which was actually a great thing for Naruto. That kid had stamina and energy for _days_ and even as a healthy, active kunoichi-to-be, Toshiko had problems sometimes keeping up so they always started out trying to run off as much of that manic kyuubi-inspired (maybe) energy.

Which...had mixed results.

Especially since Toshiko’s growth had slowed down this last year (why did her personal history have to repeat itself _this way???)_ and with plenty of food, sunshine, and exercise Naruto was already taller than her.

Proof in Toshiko’s mind that his neglect in canon had stunted his growth but _anyway…_

He was eight and a couple of months. She was almost eleven. Fucking short person genes were haunting her...

Naruto was _fast._

Really, really fast.

It made so much sense now how his father had been termed the fastest shinobi alive, even before he perfected his Hiraishin because _holy shitballs batman_ when he wanted to, Naruto could leave her in the dust.

And Toshiko wasn’t _slow_ by any means.

She just didn’t have: _son of the Yellow Flash, stamina and chakra out his ears_ speed.

So if he wanted to and was feeling like being a brat - which happened the kid wasn’t anywhere near perfect or an angel, even if some of the rougher parts had been smoothed over thanks to early intervention - he could and _did_ take off so fast that Toshiko couldn’t wrangle him into doing whatever exercise or practice that he didn’t like that day.

But he always came back.

And that, to her mind, was more important than him deciding to skip a kunai throwing practice, or taking off rather than play sparring partner for her bojutsu drills.

They would wash up and make/have dinner depending on whether Nobu-ji was around to cook or if it was up to them that night, and then Naruto would be walked to his apartment to sleep if it was one of those nights, or stay around to read or play games with Toshiko and/or Nobu if it wasn’t.

Toshiko kept hold of his homework when he had to leave, not trusting someone not to fuck with him, and would give it to him outside the school the next morning.

Which also had a side-effect of keeping him from skipping at least morning classes when he got bored.

There were still days when he skipped classes after lunch with the group of boys that like in canon became his friends all over again in Kiba, Shikamaru, and Chouji, but Toshiko would take what she could get.

Which with things still tense with the villagers, Kumo and Konoha _barely_ keeping the peace between them, and Toshiko staring down becoming a kunoichi in less than a month and likely having a lot less time to help and/or keep an eye on Naruto thereafter, she was freaking _ecstatic_ that she didn’t have to worry herself to death over Naruto being attacked in the streets or slowly starving and wasting away in his apartment.

(Also, puberty for the second time even _earlier than the first time_ _fucking sucked ass_ even if kunoichi could get a shot to handle ovulation and menstruation aka prevent them when they were active duty.

Dude.

For that shit _alone_ she would’ve jumped into becoming a ninja, in her first world it would’ve been worth its weight in _gold_ since it didn’t have any fucked up side-effects.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 10 October 2020 - Corrected Toshiko's birthday from 1 October to 1 May

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Four: Paying Off Debts**

_1 July, Eight Years Post-Kyuubi Attack_

When Hatake Kakashi walked - two hours late - into the yearly meeting between the Academy instructors over the latest crop of graduates, the Hokage, and the Hokage’s advisors including the heads of T&I and the Jounin Commander, and not to forget this year’s lottery crop of jounin instructors pulled from the draw, everyone _groaned_ (he was pretty sure he heard Ibiki, the head of T&I curse) while he just waved and dropped into the empty seat waiting for him.

It was a scene that had been playing out - in one way or another - for the last five years since Kakashi had “retired” from active ANBU service (though no one ever really _left_ ANBU) to take missions openly as a jounin of the Leaf.

Mainly because with the constant threats of both Kumo and Iwa, every shinobi known for scaring the shit out of either A or Onoki was needed in the field.

Like Kakashi or two of his proteges in ANBU he’d helped train up in Uchiha Shisui and Itachi.

Others that no one officially knew about and never made their ways into _Flee on Sight_ in the Bingo Books stayed in ANBU, like Tenzo or Nobu.

But Kakashi?

Konoha needed him visible, so visible and causing mayhem he was.

The yearly genin team assignment was just another chance at it, since in the four years prior he hadn’t passed a single team, and this year was sure to be number five.

Or it was.

Until he finished scanning his eye lazily over the year’s crop of would-be ninja, and saw a _very_ familiar face under the banner of “Potential Top Kunoichi” without any other options for the title in sight if he was reading the synopsis on the class year right.

“Ah, Kakashi-kun,” Hiruzen was probably more entertained by the Copy-Nin’s antics than he should be, but all Kage tended to be more lenient than not towards their top shinobi. He was hardly the first to indulge a Kage-Level jounin and he certainly wouldn’t be the last. “Good of you to join us.” He turned back to the others even as Kakashi rose and started sorting through the student files, searching for one in particular.

Just as Hiruzen hoped he might.

“Hizashi-san,” he returned to the point of the meeting. “Both the top male and female graduates this year appear to be non-clan children, with the last place either going to Inuzuka Kaira,” which wasn’t a surprise, Inuzuka for the most part tended to be less studious and better hands-on learners, with rare exceptions. “Or…”

“I’ll take this one.” Kakashi handed the file over to the Sandaime after a quick review of the stats and notes from instructors. “As an apprentice, not in a team.” He stipulated before Sarutobi-sama could look _too_ smug.

 **_Student Name:_ ** _Ono Toshiko_

 **_Date of Birth:_ ** _1 May_

 **_Age:_ ** _11_

 **_Class:_ ** _Academy 5_

 **_Instructor:_ ** _Kurama Satsuma_

 **_Class Rank:_ ** _1st *See Note_

 **_Ninjutsu:_ ** _2_

 **_Taijutsu:_ ** _2.5_

 **_Genjutsu:_ ** _2.5_

 **_Intelligence:_ ** _5_

 **_Strength:_ ** _2_

 **_Speed:_ ** _2_

 **_Stamina:_ ** _2_

 **_Hand Seals:_ ** _2_

 **_Total Shinobi Classification Score:_ ** _20*_

 **_General Notes:_ ** _Ono-chan is highly intelligent, but in prior years showed little to no motivation to show it in class or on classwork. Worst in class for teamwork or social skills, can be extremely cutting in speech towards others. Has had discipline problems regarding fighting with those she perceives as bullies. Does not take criticism or punishment from superiors in a serious manner or show contrition. Possible issues with insubordination may arise, jounin instructor should be chosen who can handle her behavior problems._

 **_Supplemental Note 1:_ ** _Prior years’ class rankings: 32nd (1), 23rd (2), 17th (3), 15th (4). Significant possibility that Ono-chan intentionally self-sabotaged herself in prior years, perhaps due to her aforementioned teamwork and behavioral issues._

 **_Supplemental Note 2:_ ** _Highest graduating genin classification since Uchiha Itachi, if weighted due to high intelligence over proven skills._

“You?!” The other jounin instructors - except Hyuuga Hizashi, of course, because: Hyuuga - shouted in unison, joined by Ibiki.

“An apprentice, Kakashi?” Ibiki continued while the others spluttered and Shikaku slumped back in his chair, eyeing Kakashi suspiciously. “You? After years of dumping genin teams and insisting you don’t want to teach a bunch of chibi-shinobi? _Really?”_

“I know her uncle.” Kakashi shrugged it off, the _from ANBU_ part going unsaid. “And I’ve met Ono-chan before, she’d not a normal chibi-shinobi.” He smirked behind his mask at the jounin commander. “Less _troublesome.”_

“Ono-chan _has_ come a long way this past year.” Her Academy teacher rushed into the break in conversation as the others digested that bit. “But previously she consistently underperformed, and could have a problem being insubordinate or daydreaming, a team…”

Kakashi snorted softly, as Shikaku, Hizashi, and Ibiki all traded knowing _looks_ over the “underperforming” bit while the Hokage looked deeply interested in the designs on his pipe.

Ah yes, the non-clan prodigy-protection conspiracy that everyone pretended they didn’t know about. Well except the civilians. And the civilians included in the Council. They _really_ didn’t know about it.

Which if nothing else, proved time and again that many of the Academy instructors and administrators _belonged_ away from the field if kids pulled the wool over their eyes over and over again and they never _noticed_ the trend.

“Ono Nobu is the last hunter-nin in the village’s ranks.” Shikaku spoke up several minutes later once all objections to Kakashi’s mad plan had been made. He held up a hand when Inuzuka Tsume, the head of the Inuzuka Clan who was taking on a team that year almost shouted him down. “A hunter-nin is not the same as our Inuzuka tracking teams with their ninken companions, Tsume-san. Ono-san is already in his thirties. He’ll retire or die eventually.” Shikaku focused that darkly intelligent gaze on Kakashi’s uncovered eye. “Does Nobu-san think his niece has the potential to replace him?”

Kakashi shrugged. It wasn’t like he sat down and had hearts-to-hearts with...well...anybody, let alone Ono Nobu. Instead he pointed at the file he handed to the Hokage and rattled off a few of the observations it contained beyond the first stat sheet.

“Loner, self-reliant, works best alone.” He tilted his head as he studied Toshiko-chan’s most recent Academy picture. “Vastly intelligent, creative, and the greatest talent in fuuinjutsu to come out of the Academy in _years._ ” He blinked at Shikaku. “Who _else_ are you going to give her to for training? _Jiraiya?_ ”

Everyone in the room winced at _that_ idea, apprenticing a young kunoichi who looked like she was going to grow up pretty with a notorious lecher.

Her reputation would be ruined before the ink on the apprenticeship contract was signed.

Say what one liked about Kakashi’s reading habits, at least he didn’t _write_ the damn pornographic novels, or conduct “research” by peeping on women’s baths from Konoha to Iron Country.

Hiruzen _almost_ smiled in triumph as he stamped his approval on Kakashi’s apprenticeship offer the next morning.

That had gone even better than he’d planned.

And here he’d been willing to force the issue, if necessary, by insisting he prove himself capable of teaching a genin (aka Ono-chan) before allowing him to train Naruto-kun in two years.

But then with Kakashi, events _did_ tend to run smoother when he thought his best ideas came from his own mind instead of being led there.

 _Troublesome_ , indeed.

…

Watching her classmates and teacher - _not_ Iruka-sensei who was over Naruto’s class now, _sigh_ \- spin around in convoluted mental circles as she stopped underplaying herself and started flaunting her abilities in her final year at the Academy was _fucking priceless._

It was petty as fuck, but watching her _skip_ merrily through their work in their final year and dominate the class rankings had whipped most of her classmates into a frothing _rage._ Entertaining as shit. Especially since they’d all dismissed her early on as lazy and/or unmotivated, even her whipping their asses at sealing theory and basic exploding tag creation hadn’t _quite_ made it into the forefront of their tiny little minds that she might have more going on than showed on the surface.

_Kids._

The instructors now, _they_ didn’t have the excuse of being children to give them a mulligan on their lack of observation.

Watching Kurama-sensei’s face _sour_ in particular as she glided through the graduation exam would keep her warm inside for years to come, the pretentious asshole.

And to be fair - both to her classmates and herself - her cheat via reincarnation wasn’t responsible for anything but her intelligence and work ethic. It didn’t help her learn hand seals - which she thought were stupid anyway when there were shinobi that could perform jutsu with just one hand, one hand seal, or without using them at all - and it _definitely_ didn’t help with the physical aspects of being a shinobi. _She_ was still the one who had to learn katas and taijutus forms, run laps and complete training exercises.

That work was on _her_ not her circumstances, so in her opinion she’d _earned_ that top of the pile ranking, thank you very much.

And for a simple reason, beyond Nobu-ji’s expectations: she wanted to survive to live.

Being the best of the best of her age group might not _mean_ anything in a couple years, but at the moment it _sure as shit did_ as it gave her the best shot at a worthwhile jounin instructor and team - and that might make all the difference between living long enough to impress Fugaku and bag an Uchiha or two, and not.

Honestly if anything: being _around_ those pretty pretty bastards, even if they weren’t the same ones from canon who were either too old to be around her or too young to be on her radar (she was still a grown assed woman and kids still didn’t appeal to her, thank the fucking Sage of Six Paths) hadn’t made her interest in them go away.

Some of their personalities could use some damn work, the haughty spoiled little brats, but they _were_ kids.

It was a refrain that kept her from snapping more than one of them in two - or trying anyway - when they aggravated the ever-loving-shit out of her.

A _henge, bunshin, and kawarimi_ later and she literally _was_ skipping her way out of the exam with her new _hitai-ate_ in her hand to the sight of Nobu-ji waiting with the other parents and/or guardians for their new genin to leave the Academy, Naruto-kun standing right next to him and making one hell of a ruckus the moment he spotted her.

“ _Nee-chan, nee-chan!”_ Naruto cheered. “You’re a kunoichi, Toshi-nee!”

Yeah, yeah she was.

Ono Toshiko was a kunoichi.

Sage have mercy on them all, this was either going to be awesome or terrible, there was no in-between.

“Your mother would be so proud of you, Toshi-chan.” Nobu murmured as he pulled her in for a swift squeezy-side hug, Naruto already hanging off her shoulders and asking questions about where she was going to wear her forehead protector a million miles an hour. “ _I’m_ proud of you.”

“Kurama-sensei said I wasn’t to join the rest of them on Monday to meet with my team.” She admitted, worried a bit over what _that_ might mean now that it’s sank in, Naruto running ahead at a prompt from Nobu. They were going out to celebrate after they all changed from their daywear, Toshiko’s choice. “What do you think…?”

She glanced up, catching the smug look on her uncle’s face before he could wipe it away.

“You know something.” She said, deadpan. “What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing.” Nobu said airly, still smiling now that he’s been caught out. “Just that you have a meeting with the Hokage tomorrow, noon sharp.”

Toshiko sucked in a shocked breath, blinking rapidly as she tried to puzzle that out.

It wasn’t going to be warning her away from Naruto now that she was technically an adult by village law and tradition, Nobu-ji wouldn’t be _happy_ about it if it was.

Try as she might, there wasn’t much she could think of that would have her meeting with the Hokage...except maybe placing her on an existing team with older genin.

Though why that would happen, she couldn’t even begin to guess.

All she needed to claim her inheritance at the bank after all is her genin registration paperwork, it wasn’t the sort of major handoff that would matter to the frickin’ _Hokage..._

“Don’t think yourself into a state.” Nobu chuckled, shaking his head at his worrywort of a niece. “It’s a good thing, I promise, Toshi-chan. Now, let’s get home before Naruto-kun makes an executive decision and we end up eating at Ichiraku’s instead of Yakiniku-q like I know you want…”

…

Her first day as a genin, Toshiko walked Naruto to the Academy like always on days he stayed over.

They’d had an intense conversation the night before that had amounted to Toshiko doing her best to reassure Naruto that she wasn’t going to stop being around or caring about him just because she was going to be busy doing genin things, though Naruto didn’t yet have a firm grasp regarding what genin life looked like since they didn’t really get into it in Academy until their last year of training.

Naruto eventually found himself at ease with the idea that though she will probably have less free time - maybe, depending on her jounin instructor and team - and have to leave the village sometimes now that she was a kunoichi, she would still make time for him and that he was still welcome at the Ono home.

Not the _best_ conversation to weather while still worried over what the Hokage wanted with her now that she was an Academy graduate, but one that was needed nonetheless.

Since she was already by the administration building, Toshiko took care of her shinobi registration then with documentation in hand that confirmed her status as a legal adult, marched right down to the bank that was holding her inheritance in trust to unlock it and set up a personal account. As a kid with an allowance before, she’d never needed one. But with the inheritance and mission pay to come, she’d rather use a bank than have a pile of ryos stuffed in one of her dresser drawers or whatever.

Plus, she needed outfitting, and while she was going to wait on that until she’d learned what was going on with her jounin sensei and team placement (and for Naruto to join her at least at the weapon’s shop or he’d pout for _days_ ) having bank slips to use instead of carrying around a wad of cash was just easier all around.

Smaller businesses, like Ichiraku’s or snack stands, tended to only take cash.

But with the brisk business that the various shinobi outfitters did, especially during graduation and promotion season, they _had_ to take bank exchange slips otherwise they’d be shooting themselves in the foot.

(Though she had to admit, the picture of someone like the refined Hyuuga twins Hiashi and Hizashi carrying around bulging sacks of ryos if banks didn’t exist in Naruto would never _not_ be funny.)

Besides, approximately one of the last things Toshiko wanted to have on her mind before going to her meeting with the _fucking Hokage_ is Naruto’s probably loud and carrying questions about the kind of underwear she bought.

Because, sweet kid or not, he was _just that kind of brat_ who would - intentionally or otherwise - broadcast what kind of underwear his _nee-chan_ just bought.

Vividly.

With color commentary centered around the lack of orange.

Toshiko knew this from experience since he’d done _exactly that_ the first time she’d taken him clothes shopping once he’d been moved into his own little apartment and made the rookie mistake of buying a few things for herself while she was at it.

One thing that bugged her about genin kunoichi was that because they technically became adults overnight, they went a little crazy with their newfound freedom.

Don’t get her wrong, the boys did it too, but because the boys tended to not be as, well, _controlled_ when it came to their appearances other than most being required to be clean and tidy for clan kids, so they went a bit crazy with buying sweets with mission pay or buying a fancy-fancy set of kunai or something along those lines.

Where the girls went a little wild was in their clothes.

Hey: she got it, okay?

She’d grown up in a world (the first time) that had one _hell_ of a double standard regarding male and female standards and gender roles. In a small, religious, conservative country town. Modesty was highly praised by the adults around her while the boys were allowed to run nearly wild and get away with almost everything short of murder.

She _absolutely_ understood what it was to have to follow rules and cover up her skin because _heaven forbid_ one of her male classmates have to check himself instead of stare.

Like in her current life, Toshiko had developed early and dealt with all of the spoken and unspoken rules regarding modesty and “proper” behavior that followed earlier than most of the other girls around her.

So, yeah.

She got it.

Pre-teen girls who’d been trained as literal _killers_ were unleashed on the world and (unless they were Uchiha or Hyuuga, basically) allowed to wear whatever the hell they wanted and didn’t have to take their parents’ opinions into account anymore for the most part.

They were told that they were _adults,_ were _women_ now - though there were thank-the-fucking-Sage laws regarding _relations_ between genin and older parties with a rolling minimum age of consent depending on the age of both parties - and human nature being what it was, they wanted to _dress_ like they were adult women.

Even if as far as their bodies and mental/emotional maturity were concerned, they really really _weren’t_ anywhere near being _grown_ yet.

Which led to _issues_ regarding genin dress and uniforms for genin kunoichi as just because a pre-teen girl _thinks_ something looks good doesn’t mean it’s actually appropriate both for a kunoichi to wear or for someone who was eleven or twelve years old.

Ino’s clothes from the original Naruto anime came to mind as it didn’t cover a whole hell of a lot and left her _really_ exposed both in lack of coverage for a child _and_ a lack of armoring for combat.

Or Sakura’s flimsy civilian dress.

Tenten, in Toshiko’s opinion, was one of the smartest dressed young kunoichi with a firmer emphasis on function than looking _cute_ or _sexy_ or whatever the hell went through the minds of others.

Even Temari left most of her legs exposed and _asking_ to be targeted, without even complete leggings of shinobi mesh armor to protect them.

It was one of the more overt issues where the misogyny showed its ugly little face, where the males dressed for protection and function and the females so that others would have something nice to look at.

(Don’t get her started on Tsuande’s cleavage and Terumi Mei’s _everything_ , just don’t.)

Entering the kunoichi outfitter shop - that was a mix between casual and mission clothes, which was awesome - favored by taijutsu specialists (and Toshiko’s kaa-chan before Natsuko died) she smiled and waved at the shop manager who was a civilian member of the Onikuma clan who owned the shop.

Then she beelined straight for the kunoichi-grade compression sports bras that were _leagues_ better than having to suffer through a regular sports bra and compression bandaging. She loved archery. Had loved archery and been _good_ in her first life, if not as good as she was at rifle target shooting. She loved that her uncle had trained her in archery from when she was young.

She _didn’t_ love that because she was developing more than average curves in a village that tended towards lithe svelte figures (outside of Tsunade and the Akimichi Clan) she had to tightly wrap up her developing bust or risk taking a _serious_ hit to her stance, accuracy, and power of her shots because her breasts got in the way.

It wasn’t _too_ big of an issue at the moment (pun only kinda intended) but it definitely could become one given that she had literal _years_ yet for her body to finish maturing.

So: kunoichi compression bras that kept everything tucked down tight and firm without having to worry about causing damage to her muscles, tissues, and range of motion.

The manager smiled at her with genuine sympathy for her _problem_ as she dumped a half dozen of the bras plus an actual dozen of compression underwear in a neat pile at the end of the counter before darting over to the rack of shinobi mesh armor, swiftly picking out a crew-neck top with three-quarter sleeves and ankle-length leggings, plus a bottle of the special cleaner they required. She went for a set that had connecting seals at the hem of the shirt and the top of the leggings that turned the set into one seamless piece when activated and allowed easy removal when not. A half-dozen dark blue crew-neck basic kunoichi shirts without decoration that were sleeveless were tossed onto the pile, followed by the same amount of black capri-length fitted trousers that flexed easily as she moved.

Naruto-kun would _absolutely_ say that her choices were _boring_ but she didn’t care about looking good at this point when her body was still mostly a child’s.

She cared about protecting herself.

To that end, the flexible mesh bandaging that shinobi used for cushioning and support was added to her shopping spree but spools of dark blue and black rather than the regular white.

An obi-style belt made of shinobi mesh was her main “splurge” and sop to vanity as it would make her waist look _teeny_ even with her wearing her compression undergarments.

An hour later, she was done after adding a pair of black leather closed-toed boots and soft socks that were used most often by kunoichi who ran missions in the colder countries to the north as Konoha wasn’t situated in a place called the _land of Fire_ for nothing and it wasn’t _just_ because of their tendency for fire release chakra users and was ready to pay when a display behind the counter caught her eye and made her smile at an inside joke.

They were called all kinds of things in her first life, her best friend used _neck gaiter_ the most, but what they were at heart were tubes of flexible knit fabric that could be used for everything from scarves to headbands to cold-weather mask/hat combos.

In Konoha, they were seen most _often_ decorating the face of one Hatake Kakashi in a plain grey.

Smiling, since she’d planned on getting a bun holder or something to hide her hair anyway in the field, she added a handful of the fabric tubes to her order in the same black and dark blue colors she’d been going with and called it good.

Everything else she either already had or would need to buy at a weapons’ shop, Toshiko sealing her binge away in a storage scroll, before checking the time.

Just enough to for a leisurely walk back home and lunch before meeting with the Hokage.

Perfect.

…

Since it was a meeting with the Hokage - even if she wasn’t his biggest _fan_ by any means - Toshiko dressed a little nicer than her norm after she finished unloading her haul in her bedroom and having lunch.

Which wasn’t to say that she dressed like a slob the rest of the time.

On the contrary, she made a strong effort to set a good example for Naruto-kun by dressing in clothes that were always clean and in good repair, even if they were her practice clothes (tank tops and capri sweats, mostly) and set to be dirty and even bloody before she was done. Even so, she always _set out_ to look decent when she left the apartment. Hair pulled back in a ponytail or braid, face and hands clean, sandals not falling off or falling apart.

As _tempting_ as it was at times to just roll out of bed, toss her hair up, and throw on whatever, she didn’t.

One thing she’d _always_ prided herself on in any world was being a good sister and/or aunt.

Just because Naruto-kun was the brat she _chose_ instead of was born with/to didn’t change that.

That day that meant coiling her thick curls into a braid and then twisting that into a tidy bun at the base of her neck, wearing her second-best sandals after making sure they were clean, and black leggings under a dark-bruise purple to palest lilac ombre yukata.

They weren’t her _nicest_ clothes or even overly formal, but they were a stark contrast to the practice clothes or the t-shirts and capris she’d consistently worn to the Academy.

Her black leather archery arm protector slipped onto her left forearm and was tightened with a flick of her opposite hand, the scroll containing her bow and quiver tucked into a hidden pocket inside her yukata, and a bundle of senbon in a thigh holder went on over her leggings.

Because no matter what anyone said about arming up - even lightly - before a meeting with the Hokage, she was a kunoichi now, albeit a baby one, and an attack could come at any time.

She was ready and walked serenely into the atrium/waiting room outside the Hokage’s office where his current secretary/assistant waited exactly five minutes before her appointment, which the man confirmed then waved her over to a chair to wait.

And she waited.

And waited.

And waited.

…

“Well, she has abnormal patience for a genin, I’ll give her that.” Hiruzen commented as Viper snorted from where he was playing bodyguard behind the Hokage’s desk.

“She’s been mothering Naruto-kun since she was kneehigh to a grasshopper.” Nobu drawled, irritated - but not surprised - that Kakashi was late. _“Patience_ isn’t something she lacks for all that it’s not hard to push her into losing her temper if you know the right buttons.”

“What would those be?” Kakashi asked, jumping in through the Hokage’s open window _just in time_ to catch his one-time teammate’s comment. They’d only served together in ANBU, but Kakashi respected Nobu’s skill set. That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to rattle his niece’s cage and push her and push her until she snapped then help put her back together again - that was the charge of any jounin sensei worth their rank.

If Ono-chan didn’t hate his guts - at least a little - by the time he was done training her, Kakashi wouldn’t have done his job right and it would only end up failing her in the long run as it meant she wouldn’t be as prepared and skilled as he could make her.

In order to compensate for weaknesses, he had to _find them first_ \- and he knew from his own time as a baby-shinobi and from ANBU training both as a trainer and trainee, that no one just _brushed off_ someone else digging into open wounds and their shadowed corners, no matter the reasoning behind it.

“Find out yourself, lazy-ass.” Nobu snorted, leaning back against the wall and covering himself with a henge of a potted ornamental tree at a gesture from Sarutobi-sama. “I’m not going to get on her bad side. If I know anything about you, you’ll be doing enough of that for _all_ of us.”

Well, Kakashi mused, leaping up onto his favorite ledge halfway up the wall for observation under an illusion in the Hokage’s office from his ANBU days, he wasn’t wrong.

Resting with the ease of long hours of training and practice, Kakashi settled in to watch his new apprentice, not a doubt in his mind that the little kunoichi would agree as her uncle had already done.

Kakashi _might_ have had a _minor_ freak out last night over what he’d done.

People who got close to him, _really_ close to him, died.

If something happened to _her..._ no, Inoichi had been firm about Kakashi not dwelling on that thought.

Ninja died.

It was a fact of their lives.

When he’d gone to the man who’d trained three of the best (and most stable) shinobi he’d ever worked with, aka the Head of the Yamanaka Clan, in a near-panic over the thought of training a baby-genin, Inoichi hadn’t pulled his punches regarding Kakashi’s guilt complex before making his main point:

Kakashi _did_ know how to train other shinobi.

He’d done it over and over and over again as an ANBU Captain.

Inoichi had pointed out, rightfully, that if Kakashi could train _Uchiha_ and Tenzo, he could handle training a _much_ better adjusted student in Ono Toshiko, especially since he didn’t have to worry about the social and teamwork aspects of having an entire genin _team_ counting on him.

He’d also been _massively_ entertained by Kakashi’s momentary panic, but he wasn’t the kind of asshole who would laugh about it _to his face._

Later with Shikaku and their teammate Akimichi Chouza, certainly and likely over sake, but not in front of Kakashi himself.

She moved well.

Not perfectly, not the way a seasoned kunoichi would, but well for a baby-genin with soundless, balanced steps, a straight back, and loose limbs that could strike out in an instant.

Observant, eyes flickering quickly around the office and noting the open window before turning her attention to the Hokage, and pegging every nook and cranny that might be a genjutsu hiding a guard.

She even glanced up at the ceiling and the upper walls, which was often one of the first things genin had to be trained to do if they made it onto a team with a jounin instructor.

Prepared.

Unlike some baby-genin, and despite her not wearing obvious armor, there were leggings under her yukata and some sort of weapon pouch on her leg that pressed lightly against the fabric of her yukata as she moved, not skilled enough _yet_ to know how to avoid that sort of tell.

Given that she was Viper’s niece and her mother had known sealing - at least to an extent - Kakashi would be willing to bet that she had a scroll carrying more weapons or supplies, maybe tucked into her obi or hidden under her yukata itself.

Huh.

Maybe this won’t be _completely_ terrible if she’s already showing more basic common sense than he was used to seeing from baby-genin running around the village like headless chickens and frazzling their jounin senseis’ nerves.

She was nervous, that much was clear - she _was_ only a genin at the end of the day - but she managed to at least keep her _face_ composed even if the line of her shoulders made a liar of the rest of her.

“Congratulations on your graduation, Ono-chan.” Hiruzen smiled at the young girl who’d showed more spine and initiative - if a bit of a subversive spirit that _might_ be a problem in the future, which was one of the reasons why one of the Leaf’s most utterly loyal shinobi would be training her personally - in the last few years than half the Council combined. 

There was also, unfortunately, a darkness that had sparked to life in the wake of the Sandaime Raikage’s equally unfortunate attack. He had no doubt that if he tossed her unarmed in a pit with half a dozen Kumo shinobi that she would take out several with her bare hands, teeth, and sheer will before falling in turn. It wasn’t an unknown darkness. Many citizens of Konoha carried one similar to it in their breasts.

 _Channelling_ it appropriately was the challenge.

Thankfully for Hiruzen, it was going to be Kakashi-kun’s challenge and not his own.

“Thank you, Hokage-sama.” Toshiko bowed the _exact_ amount required and not a millimeter more.

A choice that she knew the Hokage noted if the not-quite-amused but also not _pissed off_ look on his face was any sign.

Toshiko was hardly the only person in Konoha who didn’t revere the Sandaime as so many did, her personal favorite was actually the Niidaime even if she thought Tobirama was a fucking _idiot_ for breeding suspicion of the Uchiha into his students.

Well, no one was perfect.

She knew she wasn’t the only person from her first life who’d been of the opinion that if you smashed Hashirama and Tobirama into one person you’d either end up with the perfect Hokage or a reckless angry mess of a man, with little in-between, for how well they balanced each other out.

It was a balance that she thought - maybe, she might be giving them too much credit - that Sarutobi and Danzo had attempted to strike between themselves but for all that _Danzo_ was no fucking Tobirama, neither was Sarutobi a patch on the Shodai in character for all that it was debatable if he matched a portion of his power.

Mokuton was both awesome and broken, and a giant mech monstrosity of a thousand-handed-whatever-the-fuck didn’t belong in a world focused on _ninja._

“Now, Ono-chan, do you know why you’re here?” Hiruzen asked when she straightened up from her bow, hands tucked sedately inside the sleeves of her yukata.

“No, Hokage-sama.”

“Well,” Hiruzen puffed on his pipe then held out a slim folder. “A unique opportunity has arisen for you, Ono-chan.”

He waited a moment while she took the folder and read the title of the first page, eyes widening with shock.

“An apprenticeship, Hokage-sama?” Toshiko asked, shocked to her toes as Nobu-ji had told her when she started fretting about graduation and team placements - more the latter than anything else - that due to _other duties_ he wouldn’t be able to offer her an apprenticeship. Which was a break in tradition, she had come to understand.

Potential hunter-nin in their family had _always_ apprenticed to one of their older hunter-nin relatives.

She’d thought that she’d go through the whole genin-team, chuunin exams cycle before Nobu-ji would be freed up to apprentice her in the future. He _was_ getting older for an active shinobi after all, especially one that she was certain from the tattoo on his arm was ANBU. In a few more years he’d _have_ to at least retire from the sort of crap ANBU dealt with, which would have hopefully freed him up to train her.

“One of the jounin instructors drawn for this year’s genin insisted.” Hiruzen smiled at her shock.

“Yo.” Kakashi canceled his genjutsu and hopped lightly down from his observation post, brows arching in interest when his chibi-genin didn’t flinch or startle at his appearance.

Knowing that there was almost always ANBU guards, Toshiko didn’t let herself jump when a voice came from up and to her left.

Though that her new sensei was apparently Kakashi?

 _That_ almost made her swallow her tongue.

“Your uncle has already signed the contract, Ono-chan,” Hiruzen informed her, though it was a mere sop to tradition given that she was legally able to sign such things for herself - and would have to, for the apprenticeship to be legal. “And I have given my approval, though if you wish to review the contract details before agreeing, it would be understandable.”

Toshiko merely nodded firmly and planted herself without further ado in one of the Hokage’s visitor chairs, Kakashi echoing her and - yep, he was pulling out his porn - while Hiruzen took advantage of the silence to puff away contemplatively on his pipe, though he wasn’t able to get _too_ comfortable given the rate that she was scanning and flipping through the pages.

The contract wasn’t overly complicated, mainly outlining the responsibilities of the sensei/master and the duties of the student, all of which sounded fairly standard from the basic apprenticeship contracts they were taught about in the Academy.

She blinked over the clause that didn’t allow her romantic relationships during her apprenticeship term - which was to officially last until she was a jounin - due to “limiting distractions” though “singular physical encounters would be allowed at the discretion of the apprenticeship master.” All of which weren’t a deal breaker. Given that, you know, _she was physically eleven_ and wasn’t at all attracted to people her own age and likely wouldn’t be for at least another five or six years depending on how fast shinobi teenagers physically matured.

Which she _thought_ was faster than vanilla-humans did, given her own experiences thus far, but wasn’t banking on it.

Kakashi would _also_ be able to dictate whether she lived at home or in his own residence, be required to provide her equipment and outfit her, and like regular jounin instructors determine when/if she was ready to take part in chuunin and jounin exams or be granted field promotions.

He could dictate who she was allowed to associate with, barring family, missions she could take, and even teams she could be on.

It was a _lot_ of control a master was given over an apprentice but correspondingly the duties were greater as well, since she knew that outfitting a full shinobi kit wasn’t cheap, and that was before adding in specialities like arrows or sealing components.

Damn.

She wished she’d known about this before dumping cash on a new uniform wardrobe, but meh.

Hindsight was 20/20 and it wasn’t like it broke her or she went for the most expensive items in the store...though buying those mask/hair covers was now both ironic _and_ hilarious.

Taking the pen that was tucked into the folder, she flipped to the first (Sign Here) flag and went through the whole thing initialling and signing until it was done and was handed back to the Hokage for processing.

“Most excellent.” Hiruzen beamed at the pair, who were eyeing each other with a mixture of consideration and suspicion - in almost equal measure as well, which was amusing. “Train hard, Ono-chan, and Kakashi-kun will turn you into the finest kunoichi of your generation, I have no doubt.”

They both rose and bowed to the Sandaime, soft _thank you, Hokage-sama’s_ given almost in unison, and then - because of course he did - Kakashi snagged Toshiko by the back of her yukata and _shuushin’d_ right out of the office.

Melting back out of the henge that had hid him, Nobu snorted a laugh.

“They _absolutely_ deserve each other.” Was his opinion.

“I believe you might be right, Viper. Though only time will tell.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I don't think I'm going too far out there with having Kakashi jump in head-first to take on training Toshiko, and I say that for two reasons:
> 
> 1) As he said in the chapter, Toshiko isn't a normal genin and he recognizes that. The thought of training a "normal" genin team is a level of responsibility that Kakashi avoids like the plague in canon, at least partly - in my opinion - because of the risk of getting attached and having them all die on him, and partly because he's afraid of screwing them up. But he's watched Toshiko as she's grown up - at least since she stepped in and started mothering Naruto - and acknowledges that she's not a normal eleven year old and is much more mature and "herself" in a way that most pre-teens just aren't. That lifts a lot of the responsibility off of Kakashi because he doesn't have to be a pseudo-parent/guardian for her and much more a team captain responsible for training her- and that's a lot more inside Kakashi's comfort zone.
> 
> 2) My take on Kakashi's character as an adult has always been one of a man who's driven by grief, duty, and honor. From that perspective, him choosing to take on Toshiko as an apprentice makes total sense because she has helped protect and raise Naruto from a young age, which Kakashi sees at least in part as a duty that he was barred from fulfilling, and as a result feels that he owes Toshiko a debt. This is just his method of paying it off, because there really isn't anything else that Toshiko needs other than training from a jounin sensei that she can't get for herself or through her uncle.
> 
> There you go, an insight into my thought process on this one, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter. ~ Sif


	6. Chapter 6

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Five: Raw Potential**

It took everything she had _not_ to lash out at Kakashi - Kakashi- _sensei_ now she supposed - over scruffing her and taking her away via body-flicker without warning.

Fucking troll.

Hatake Kakashi was a fucking asshole and a _troll_ with it and now she was stuck with him for probably the next half a dozen years.

_Greatttttt._

Not that it had been a hard decision to make. He was _Hatake Kakashi._ When it comes to a more powerful jounin in Konoha who actually has the time and ability to train someone, it really doesn’t get much better considering her goals.

He trained _ANBU_ teams.

_ANBU._

Leaving aside that she doesn’t know _why the fuck_ he’d decided to train her - though she could make a few guesses - short of Nobu-ji, for learning to be a solo-type ninja without the heavy reliance on teams and support that Konoha was known for, it didn’t get much better for training her than Kakashi. _If_ he could be moved to do so, which apparently he had been? Somehow? (Like she said, she had ideas about why Kakashi decided to train her and most of them revolved around his massive loyalty and guilt complex regarding the Yondaime and her taking Naruto under her wing.)

That it kept her from having to get along with her classmates for any longer, was a massive relief to say the least.

Acting as a mentor for younger people was one thing.

Acting as a contemporary wasn’t something she was very good at, and given that her educational file was _filled_ with marks regarding her inability to consistently play nice with others, everyone around her knew it.

Honestly, it was only that it was so important to first her mother and then her uncle that she’d kept up the middle-of-the-pack, kinda lazy but intelligent thing.

Otherwise, she would’ve gotten herself out of the Academy ASAP rather than mentally climbing the walls unless they were covering a subject she didn’t actually know about or were practicing physical skills or chakra control.

She daydreamed a _lot_ during the history modules and, like, _all_ of the kunoichi-specific classes on flower arranging and that bullshit.

Because: no.

She never outright _failed_ anything but yeah, she got lectured and yelled at plenty.

Since she was protective over Naruto, some of her instructors were harsher than others, but she survived it and now was going to be taught by Kakashi-sensei...oh shit she was going to _die._

It was _Kakashi!_

She didn’t think _he_ would kill her or get her killed like some people in the village probably thought he would given his track record, but she _absolutely_ believed that she might die from what his idea of training (when he was actually invested) involved.

Why did she think that this was a good idea again?

Thankfully for her sanity, Kakashi set her down on the bridge in Training Ground Seven - the same one she remembered him preferred for his Team Seven in Naruto - and watched her wobble a bit from the dizzying sensation of _shuushin_ before asking his introductory question and distracting her from her spiralling thoughts.

“Name, age, likes, dislikes, hobbies, goals. Go.”

Toshiko fell into a parade rest position, one she’d spent a lot of time in due to karate lessons in her first life, and rattled off the answers with ease.

“Ono Toshiko, eleven. I like oranges and Yakiniku-Q, I dislike sashimi. I garden, sew, embroider, and practice origami and calligraphy. I’d like to make chuunin rank within the next two years, and jounin before I turn eighteen.”

Kakashi arched a brow. She managed to answer all his questions while not revealing any vulnerabilities or weaknesses. The only place she fumbled was on the mention of origami and calligraphy as that _could_ lead someone to think that she studied fuuinjutsu.

Which he told her, Toshiko nodding thoughtfully, having not considered that as she’d been focusing more on concealing anything to do with her family, main weapons, and motivations.

“Now the best answers, Toshi-chan.” Kakashi prompted her to redo her list. “Concealing information in casual conversation _is_ an ability that will be needed all your life, however there will always be at least some people you can be truthful with. As your sensei, I’m one of them. So…” He waved a hand in a go-on motion.

“Ono Toshiko, eleven. I like Nobu-ji, Naruto-kun, and archery. I dislike Kumogakure and child abusers. I like to help Naruto-kun with his training, and practicing with my bow and bo staff. My ultimate goal is to carry on my family tradition of Konoha’s hunter-nin, and either avoid being in the Bingo Books altogether or have a Flee on Sight order.”

Kakashi guffawed at that last bit, not doubting it in the slightest, as each implied a certain level of skill and power. Kakashi was a Flee on Sight, as were a handful of other Konoha shinobi not counting the Hokage and the remaining Sannin. Toshi-chan’s uncle, notably, wasn’t in a bingo book _anywhere_ and he could see Viper’s influence on his niece from a mile away.

“Alright baby badass,” he reached out and ruffled her curly copper head which got him one _hell_ of a glare. “I can work with that. Meet me back here at seven tomorrow morning, bring your kit. We’re doing an assessment of your skills and then we’ll see what you need to get outfitted. Dismissed.”

“Yes, Hatake-sensei.”

“Ah, fuck no. Call me Kakashi, Toshi-chan.”

She snorted, rolling her eyes.

“ _Yes,_ Kakashi-sensei.”

“Good girl, shoo.”

…

Kakashi tucked himself into his lover’s back when he finally finished talking to Obito and Minato-sensei at the memorial, his cold nose nudging along the curve of a lithe neck and face buried in rich brown hair.

“How’d it go?” Tenzo murmured, the former Root, and current ANBU member asked, having woken up when Kakashi returned from his vigil. He didn’t question it. Few who actually knew Kakashi did. That it helped him get from one day to the next was really all the mattered in the long run.

“She’s going to be terrifying if her skills can keep up with her brain.” Kakashi sighed, muscles finally uncoiling. “I’m pulling in a couple people to help do a true assessment of her skills rather than the Academy bullshit. Willing to take on my kawaii little genin in taijutsu?”

Because, honestly, asking anyone to go up against a Mokuton user in a ninjutsu spar without prior knowledge was just unfair.

Kakashi was a bastard but he wasn’t _evil._

Tenzo hummed an agreement, sinking back against the strong form that had been his greatest advocate and support since the day they met - Tenzo finally cleared for duty by the Yamanaka Clan, and Kakashi his erstwhile mentor.

For Kakashi?

_Anything._

…

By _pulling in some people_ , Kakashi had actually meant some of his former ANBU teammates.

Mainly because he knew that even a couple years after _officially_ retiring from ANBU - as much as anyone ever retires from ANBU - he knew that they were the few shinobi in the village that he could ask this sort of favor from without having to worry about them making a big deal out of it, for all that they were going to have a laugh teasing him for taking on a chibi-kunoichi to mentor.

All of them but him were still active in ANBU, which meant they still handled duties like the Hokage guard while Kakashi simply took a solo mission every now and again unless his skill set in particular was needed for a team mission, and thankfully all three of them including Tenzo were in the village.

He would’ve scraped up the motivation to ask some of his other acquaintances to help out if he _had_ to, but honestly it was far more likely he would’ve just stepped up himself first.

Which while it would work to give him an up-close look at her skills, it wouldn’t have given him the objective distance that observation would.

Kakashi gave his kawaii little genin a look over when he arrived - only forty-five minutes late, which was practically on time for him - watching her for a moment from the cover of the nearby tree line.

Rather than sit and fume or nap, Toshi-chan was moving through a slow series of katas that were _interesting_ and definitely not the standard Academy crap.

Lifting his headband, he observed one in its entirety, analyzing it for use before tagging it as a set designed for use with chakra control exercises, specifically the sort of smooth, meditative movement that encouraged focus and breath control as well as strength through tension and pausing in motion to work muscle rather than rapid movement or additional weight.

It wasn’t the Hyuuga’s _juuken_ or Gai’s _goken_ but there were shades of both here and there for all that it looked like something that was a better fit - in Kakashi’s experience - in the hands of a monk than a shinobi.

Tilting his headband back into place, Kakashi put the matter of his student’s idea of an appropriate warm-up exercise out of his mind then _shuushin’d_ over to the other end of the bridge from Toshi-chan and started striding over to her, a bit slumped and his hands in his pockets.

She was dressed well for a brand new genin. Sensibly, which was almost shocking coming from a pre-teen girl, even a kunoichi, in a top and pants that hid whatever armor she was wearing underneath it, and as requested her full-kit in place. Though with all that dark blue and black, all she was missing was the Uchiha _mon_ on the back of her shirt and she’d fit right in with that clan’s aesthetic bar her hair and eye colors.

_Boots_ though, which made her one of the only shinobi in the village to prefer those to sandals outside of T&I.

(Something about getting tired of washing blood out from between their toes, Kakashi kinda drifted off that one time Gai had asked Anko and Ibiki over the oddity of their work footwear.)

He saw room for improvement in her kit - a new scroll holder, better sets than the standard student kit for kunai, shuriken, and senbon, slim daggers that wouldn’t show at the top of her boots like her current combat knives - but overall she wasn’t hopeless.

After being raised by _Viper_ he wouldn’t have thought she would be, but it wouldn’t be the first time nor the last that a child failed to live up - or down - to the example of a parent or guardian.

The cloth around her neck just got a raised eyebrow, Toshi-chan rolling her eyes as she finished her last stance and then lifting the back of it up to conceal her hair and sticking the edge to her forehead.

“It can be a mask too.” She lifted the front but then let it fall back down. “Since I’m so pale I glow in the dark and my coloring is unique, covering up as much as possible seemed like a good idea.”

“It is.” Kakashi smiled under his own concealing mask that would _also_ be raised in the back to hide his hair for all that he never wore it that way except on ANBU missions. He couldn't feel anything but bemusement over the choice, for all that he knew he was going to catch hell for it. He'd originally started wearing a mask for a _reason_ long before it became something of a trademark. And now that it had been so long, he enjoyed his little bit of eccentricity that drove everyone else nuts trying to figure it out. If chibi-badass wanted to cover up her hair, that was her choice and a damn good one to make, questions about trying to turn her into his mini-me aside. “And the boots?”

“I don’t like my feet getting wet.” She shrugged. “Or cold, and not all our missions will be in nice temperate or even hot climates like Konoha or the Land of Tea. Preparing now will save your ears from much bitching later.”

Kakashi winced, shoulders rising in preparation to duck as if Viper would jump out of the shadows to clock him one for corrupting his _precious_ little niece.

Toshi-chan grinned brightly then attempted - and failed, which she very well knew if her laughing eyes were any sign - to reassure him.

“Don’t worry, Kakashi-sensei. Nobu-ji and Kaa-chan were pretty convinced that I came out of the womb cussing up a storm.”

Kakashi shook it off as the feeling of incoming chakra signatures signalled his - former - team’s arrival.

“Your sparring partners are coming, Toshi-chan. Are you ready for your assessment?”

“Whenever _you_ are, Kakashi-sensei.” She said drily, the only reference - even obliquely - she’d made yet to his habitual tardiness.

“Maa, maa, so feisty, Toshi-chan.”

Ah, he got her to roll her eyes again, this time in legitimate exasperation.

Excellent.

“There will be four rounds.” He announced, clapping his hands in mock-excitement as he shooed his cute little genin over to the clearing she was on the border of and away from the bridge. And took note that she didn’t flinch - did she _ever_ flinch, now he was legitimately curious - when his former team arrived with a whirl of leaves. “Straight taijutsu, bukijutsu, and ninjutsu - without special abilities, fuuinjutsu, or kekkai genkai - then a final no-limit spar. Each will be five minutes or until you’re unable to continue, Toshi-chan, do you understand?”

Toshiko nodded, head tilted a bit to the side as she studied the three new faces and tried to place them - though then Kakashi gave her their names and took all the fun out of it, even if two of them were obvious (and distracting as _fuck_ ) and all of them were jounin ANBU.

Kakashi-sensei, it had to be said, was a sadistic fucker because not even on her _best_ day at her current skill level - and maybe not ever - could she see herself taking down even one of them.

“Tenzo,” Kakashi pointed out the brunet in the happuri hitai-ate. “Shisui, and Itachi will be sparring with you in that order.”

Yep, Toshiko gave a mental sigh, she was fucked and not in a fun way.

_Damn_ though, those _eyes_ and curls on Shisui hadn’t been an exaggeration in the anime, he was _scrumptious_ while Itachi, true to form, was just hot like burning.

Thank the Sage that no one knew about her, er, _appreciation_ for Uchiha in general and these two in particular or else this whole thing would take on a new level of torture than the mere humbling smack-down that Kakashi clearly had planned.

Because if she’s fighting them in that order then that meant… She gave Kakashi a _look._

Who just gave her one of those eye-smiles in response and nodded at her implied question.

Fuck.

She had to spar against him last...if she even made it that far.

Though since Kakashi wanted an assessment, _maybe_ the ANBU team wouldn’t smush her into paste.

Maybe.

…

“He’s good at this, taichou.” Itachi commented regarding Tenzo’s ability to hold back against Kakashi’s apprentice.

“He should be.” Kakashi swallowed down the desire to smile with pride for how far Tenzo had come. “He’s no stranger to sparring and training chibi-shinobi, much like you two.”

Shisui grinned, head tilted a bit as he watched Tenzo and his captain's new student Toshi-chan dance around each other, she was rough, slower and unpolished compared to what she might become, but the potential was there and he wasn’t shy about saying so while Itachi as usual kept his own council until the moment he was ready to give it.

All three of them winced - on the inside, they were _ANBU_ after all - in unison as Toshi-chan took the full brunt of a palm strike from Tenzo rather than dodge backwards.

“That might be a problem,” Shisui pursed his lips. “Her style is more…”

“Aggressive?” Kakashi offered dryly.

“Relentless.” Itachi countered.

“Either work.” Shisui waved them off before continuing. “Than her current strength and speed support, though if stamina is an issue one that makes sense.”

“Well, we’ll see.” Kakashi nodded to Shisui then whistled, signalling the change in partners, liking that Toshi-chan immediately went for her bo staff instead of waiting for her opponents to swap out.

“Stronger than she looks.” Tenzo reported succinctly, not even breathing a little hard but studying a forming bruise on his lower arm where she’d gotten him with a well-timed strike. She’d also taken a hit at the same time to make it, but she _had_ managed to hit him nonetheless, which was impressive even with him scaling back on his abilities significantly. “Even her defense is an offense.”

“Yeah, we noticed.” Kakashi said, sharingan spinning lazily like it’d done since the moment the first spar began as Toshi-chan and the fastest shinobi in the Leaf followed the parameters of the spar and kept to weapons.

That all three of the former teammates had experience working with kids - either during his rehabilitation for Tenzo under the aegis of the Yamanakas or with the dozens of chibi-Uchiha for the other two - was the secondary reason he’d tagged them to help instead of just doing it all himself.

“The staff is a good weapon for her.” Tenzo frowned, seeing another problem. “But she doesn’t like planting her feet. She’d rather move. A different close-range weapon might be better.”

Almost as if he’d heard Tenzo, Shisui slashed out and got his katana under her guard and sent the bo spinning out of her hands, Toshi-chan instantly dropping and pulling out the knives from her boots and spinning and slashing into Shisui’s space.

Kakashi blinked. He maintained that the bo was a good weapon for her arsenal but…

“Those aren’t kunai.” Tenzo’s frown deepened. “She _has_ kunai, why doesn’t she use them?”

“They’re tanto.” Itachi cocked his head a bit to the side. “Taichou, what if…?”

“Yeah, I can see it.” Kakashi mused, mentally replacing the single staff with one that could separate into a pair of batons. It would take years more training to build her up to her same skill level, but having a base in the bo will help. It was an idea, but he'd rather see her in more situations before making the switch. “She’s ambidextrous whether by nature or training.”

Shisui got first one knife off of her then the other which had her snarling and leaping backwards in the first _actual_ retreat they’d seen out of her as she went for senbon and sent them flying at him that he batted away with a spin of his sword, then had to _keep_ spinning as she followed up the senbon with another volley, then shuriken, and then she actually drew blood by darting in on the heels of the last volley with - huh, so she _could_ use kunai.

Granted, if Kakashi hadn’t taken the Sharingan off the table for the first three rounds, she wouldn’t have managed even that small knick to the back of Shisui’s hand, but it was still impressive even if in an echo of her strike against Tenzo she had to take a cut to her upper arm to land it.

“High pain tolerance.” Kakashi concluded then whistled for the next switch.

And...that was interesting.

She hadn’t shown any apprehension at fighting either Tenzo or Shisui but going up against Itachi had her facial expression turn _hunted_ as he sauntered out to meet her and she tucked the kunai in her hand away.

Looks like someone’s reputation preceded him.

Little did Kakashi know but Toshiko would’ve dreaded facing _either_ of his favorite Uchiha in a ninjutsu battle, especially given Shisui’s skill with _shuushin_ and Itachi’s general...everything.

She wasn’t as fast with hand seals as Itachi, not by far - and not just because she worked to do any jutsu she learned without them or with only one of them instead of working on rapid sequences of them - but she didn’t want for Itachi to get beyond _Snake_ in the sequence for the signature Uchiha pyromaniac rite of passage before she was making the Ram sign and smacking her palms on the ground.

Just in time too since her one sign and Itachi’s sequence ended almost in unison.

“ _Katon: Great Fireball.”_

_“Doton: Earth Wall!”_

Before the wall could crumple, Toshiko rushed through the next set of seals - a set that she hadn’t had time to minimize yet - and managed to send a great fireball of her own to collide with the tail-end of Itachi’s as it finished demolishing her wall.

Thirty seconds gone, four and a half minutes to go.

…

“Viper’s been teaching his kiddo, huh?” Shisui let out a soft whistle as he saw the vaunted intelligence of Kakashi’s little apprentice for the first time - and not just the single hand-seal earth wall either. That she’d been _aware_ enough of her own limits to know she’d need something else to handle Itachi’s fireball, that wasn’t normal baby-genin behavior.

“Mmm.” Kakashi thought he understood her aversion to hand seals now - it had been such an odd thing for an otherwise intelligent kid - if she was capable of enough chakra control to limit them and save time in a ninjutsu battle.

“More eclectic than a clan genin.” Was Shisui’s diagnosis. “Needs to learn to retreat for the love of the Sage. But I think I’m seeing what made you offer her an apprenticeship, taichou.”

She was panting by now, running on fumes as Itachi forced her to use her repertoire of jutsu - which wasn’t that large, as expected from even a clan genin immediately following graduation.

Strictly speaking, even the most powerful clan children weren’t trained in more than a jutsu or two for their defense or as a rite of passage before graduation. Jutsu can always be trained later. But setting the foundation for proper taijutsu, chakra control, and weapons handling has to be done early and done often, making it the focus along with general shinobi skills during their foundational training in the Academy and at home during those years.

Kawarimi saved her burns more than once as she dodged flames, and cuts from wind jutsu, Itachi forcing her to repeat her combination of earth wall-great fireball over and over again in-between her dodges.

A water bullet clipped her in the side as she slowed with exhaustion, and she avoided losing her hair with a well-timed duck down to the ground, and then slapped the ground after a set of hand seals she hid during the process of keeping her hair unburnt that almost had Itachi trapped in a _Doton: Smothering Cocoon_ before he body-flickered away.

And instead of Itachi body-flickering back, it was Kakashi his Sharingan spinning and Toshi-chan spitting a filthy curse as she swapped places with her lost bo staff.

“Taichou has his hands full.” Itachi said, smirk tugging at one side of his lips as Toshi-chan unsealed her bow and quiver, jumping backwards and unleashing arrow after arrow with impressive speed that Kakashi either dodged or batted out of the air.

“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.” Was Shisui’s sarcastic - but accurate - reply as all three of them - even Tenzo who’d been tits over arse for Kakashi since they met - had been put through their paces by their former captain back in their chibi-ANBU days.

…

Toshiko was _dying_ and it had only been twenty minutes of sparring.

She’d been right: Kakashi-sensei was going to kill her via training.

“C’mon Toshi-chan.” Kakashi crouched, sharingan deactivated and hidden back behind his cockeyed headband, amusement filling his voice. “Up up.”

“Guhhh…”

Snorting softly, Kakashi reached down and grabbed her hand, tugging her upright from where she’d collapsed on the edge of the sparring area and keeping one hand on her shoulder as she wobbled on weak legs.

Tenzo - sweetheart that he was when he _wasn’t_ out to kill a target - had made clones who were collecting up all the scattered weaponry and sorting them into neat piles while the original Tenzo repaired the damage to the training area, the two Uchiha having left once Toshiko was down after giving Kakashi their thoughts.

Handing over a flask of water, he waited semi-patiently as his new student recovered, mentally making training plans to fix a couple of problem areas and smooth off some rough edges and shore up weaknesses before beginning to polish her strengths.

“Thank you, Kakashi-sensei, Tenzo-san.” Toshiko said once she’d caught her breath and was capable of being coherent again, attempting to hand back the flask only to have Kakashi give her a _look_ until she kept sipping at it with one hand and putting her weapons back into place with the other as Tenzo-san handed them to her.

Leading her back over to the bridge, Kakashi settled in with his back against the rail, Tenzo at his side, while Toshiko echoed him opposite and worked on finishing her water.

“The next six months are going to be hell.” Kakashi told her bluntly. “You’re going to live, breathe, and eat training. You’re going to fall asleep as soon as you get home, you’re going to have almost no personal time, you won’t see a single mission above the minimum amount of D-ranks that all genin are required to complete, and by the end of it you’re going to hate me.”

Toshiko slowly lowered the flask of water. “I hear a _but_ at the end of that.”

_Please_ let there be a but at the end of that statement.

“But,” Kakashi smirked behind his mask. “At the end of it you’ll be ready to take the chuunin exams by storm - _and you won’t.”_

“But…?”

“Instead,” Kakashi carried on, ignoring her goggle-eyed look. “After I’ve gotten you into _not terrible_ shape, it’ll be a year or more of back-to-back missions out of Konoha. No time for silly exams.” He arched a brow. “You want to be a hunter-nin? I’ll make you one. Now.” He clapped his hands together and snagged the empty water flask from his chibi-genin who looked like she was currently regretting _all_ of her life’s choices.

Perfect.

“A hundred laps around the training ground, a hundred push ups, two hundred sit ups, and a hundred pull ups. _Go.”_

Cursing him under her breath - and with quite the depth of vocabulary, it was impressive for her age - she went.

And as per usual as she was coming to find out: Kakashi was right.

She _absolutely hated him_ at least part of the time by the time the next six months had come and gone.

And she didn’t get much in the way of the warm-fuzzies for him as a task master over the year that followed.

Blood sweat and tears wasn’t even the _half_ of it.

Though he _did_ custom order her a pair of what shinobi called “tiger claws” and she’d known before as karambits from a blacksmith in the Land of Iron along with a staff that split into batons for close-quarter combat, then taught her how to be _devastating_ when it came to using them when she couldn't get the needed range to use her bow, so _meh._

It all came out for the better in the end, especially once she reached a level of needing refinement instead of skills beaten into - or out of - her.

…

“I’m home.” Itachi and Shisui said in unison as they entered the main house of the Uchiha Compound where the pair were set to live all their lives.

Itachi because he was the heir and would one day be the Head of their noble Clan.

Shisui because he was the head of the secondary Uchiha branch family, who was charged with a sacred duty to be Itachi’s protector all their days, and sire a son or daughter who would carry the charge of protecting Itachi’s heir in turn.

Two sons of a noble family, cousins many times removed: Itachi from the line of Madara by his younger brother Izuna; and Shisui from the line of Kagami, who had protected Madara’s oldest nephew Takashi even from Madara, Kagami’s beloved first sensei, himself.

Originally Shisui’s protection had begun by training Itachi, then being his teammate in ANBU, now he was his unofficial bodyguard despite Itachi being one of the strongest shinobi in their village.

Even the strongest shinobi had to rest _some_ time however, and not even Itachi could cover every angle in every instance.

They were best friends, confidants, and shared all things between them from their darkest secrets to their most idle daydreams.

Including, though it was one of the major points of friction between them, the life-dulling knowledge that Itachi was - unofficially - betrothed to a silly Uchiha girl he hardly knew and didn’t like.

But Shisui wasn’t the clan head, that was Itachi’s father, and in this one instance there was nothing Shisui could _do_ to save his best and truest friend.

All he could do was _hope_ that a situation arose that would free Itachi from a loveless marriage - as he could hardly think of a union more destined to failure than one of abject disinterest that bordered on disdain on one part and girlish infatuation on the other.

How could a kunoichi who _barely_ met the requirements set to hold the title in their clan - which were different than the village at large - and filled a desk job at the police station even _begin_ to understand Itachi, who’d seen war and fought on battlefields as a child and was notorious for his ruthless efficiency in doing his duty?

Shisui hoped that Izumi had a hobby.

It would likely be the only joy she had in her life aside from her child - as he doubted Itachi would _do his duty_ by her more than was required by their marriage contract once it was signed and they were doomed to each other - once she married her “prince.”

Yeah, Itachi was a _prince_ all right.

A prince who had his nose in his philosophy books more often than he chased skirts and if it weren’t for Fugaku-sama having an _oiran_ teach his heir certain arts, Shisui would be certain that he wouldn’t even know what to do with a woman if he caught one.

A prince who still got confused over why he needed more than one set of casual and formal attire, never remembered to rinse his dishes, and would sooner paint his _own_ nails than notice a woman had done her own to catch his attention.

Still, Shisui loved the too-smart socially-inept idiot, and hoped for a miracle nonetheless.

Especially since the thought of Itachi being disowned for refusing the bride his father chose for him and making _Sasuke_ the new heir was a whole new level of horrifying that didn’t bear thinking about.

“Welcome home.” Mikoto called back from her sunroom, rising and smiling brightly at her boys.

She blinked at the sight of them.

Her boys that were wearing their regular jounin uniforms - dirty jounin uniforms at that - rather than either casual clothes or their plain black ANBU uniforms minus the masks.

That was _odd_ to say the least, she couldn’t think of the last time she’d seen them dressed as such.

Maybe their actual promotion ceremonies?

Both had either gone straight to ANBU after their promotions (Shisui) or been promoted while _in_ ANBU (Itachi) so it wasn’t as if they ran regular missions as jounin...ever. Unless it was to make an obvious point about the strength of either the clan or the village that they needed to be visible for as Shisui of the Body Flicker and Itachi of Illusion.

Shisui was nearly bouncing and vibrating with a look she recognized: he had gossip, and juicy bits too.

Her Itachi might _see_ everything that goes on around him, but Shisui _heard_ everything and was better at putting social cues into context. Between them she fancied that there wasn’t a secret in the entire village that could be kept from their knowledge for long. Or, as Shisui understood the value of social currency better than most young men, a bit of good gossip to pass along to Mikoto as the Clan Matriarch.

“Taichou has taken an apprentice.” Itachi smirked - just a little - as Shisui slumped and pouted over him beating him to the punch.

“More,” Shisui brightened up when Mr. Smirky-Smirky _floated_ away with his gossip-ruining self (he never told things right) to get cleaned up. “He’s taken a non-clan shinobi family, genin _kunoichi_ as his apprentice.”

Mikoto lifted her brows in surprise. Imagine _that._ She was almost tempted to do something truly uncouth such as lean out the window and check the sky for flying pigs.

She’d been certain in the idea that Hatake either would never take a formal apprentice rather than passing his skills along to his ANBU proteges (like her own boys, who’d grown so much under his command no matter how much her grumpy-assed husband liked to grouse about it) _or_ he would take Kushina’s little sunbeam under his wing once Naruto became a genin and Hatake used being his jounin-sensei as a way around the restriction over his parents’ friends and loved ones before it expired when Naruto-kun turned fifteen or became a chuunin.

“Describe this little surprise in two words.” Mikoto prompted him in an old game they’d been playing for years that she’d used to sharpen Shisui’s inherent instincts regarding others. If things had been different when he’d been graduating and beginning his career, if the politics between the Uchiha and the rest of the village hadn’t been so tense at the time, she would have had him placed under either the Nara or Yamanaka clan heads for training and polishing.

Shisui turned Toshi-chan over in his mind, all he’d seen of her for several moments, then answered: “raw potential.”

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note:
> 
> I know people are going to have questions about what all Toshiko learns under Kakashi, and rather than just giving a long list of things that almost doesn’t end, instead I’m going to point out a couple of specific jutsu that Kakashi won’t be/has yet to teach her for one reason or another.
> 
> First: Chidori & Raikiri. According to the information and jutsu reviews I’ve read about these two lightning techniques, in order to be used effectively the user needs an active Sharingan to help with the trajectory calculations and targeting. Whether that’s a caveat for safe usage or just at all I don’t know but I’m going with “must have Sharingan” for Kakashi’s trademark original jutsus. Which Toshiko, not having any kekkei genkai at all, naturally doesn’t have access to.
> 
> Second: Rasengan. Despite Toshiko having excellent chakra control, Kakashi wouldn’t give his sensei’s jutsu to her because he feels (like Jiraiya) that it’s Naruto’s inheritance from his father and eventually Naruto’s choice if it’s going to be passed on to anyone other than him, no matter whether he learns it from Kakashi or Jiraiya in this fic.
> 
> Third: Hiraishin. Similar to Rasengan, Hiraishin is one of Minato’s trademarks despite being originally designed and created by Senju Tobirama. While Kakashi knows how Hiraishin works, along with Minato’s personal guard, he’s not going to flat-out teach it to Toshiko. What he will do if she proves herself skilled enough in sealing is help her reverse engineer it or point her in the right direction since unlike Rasengan, Hiraishin isn’t the sole intellectual property of Minato. Toshiko isn’t there yet however, and probably won’t be until she makes jounin in Kakashi’s mind. So it’s a maybe - but not yet, and it won’t just be “handed” to her.
> 
> ...
> 
> Japanese Terminology:
> 
> Oiran - a sophisticated high-class courtesan, the sort who would ply her trade to noblemen and only the most wealthy clients.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 10 October 2020 - Timeline inconsistency.

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Six: The C-Rank Curse**

_“Easy there gorgeous, let’s get that trap off your leg…”_

...

Naruto couldn’t remember a time before Toshi-nee.

He knew there _was_ one, Toshi-nee told him so, told the story about how she walked into the orphanage and found him crying and alone and picked him up and cuddled him until he was happy and giggly.

He just didn’t _remember_ it because he’d been really small.

That was the thing about Toshi-nee though: even when it would be easier to lie to him, she never did. It would be easy for her to just go along with Naruto thinking there hadn’t been a time before Toshi-nee became his Toshi-nee, but she never did. If he had a question, she answered it. Sometimes she would tell him she didn’t know or she _couldn’t_ answer him, but she never lied and she never ignored him or pretended like he didn’t ask.

She listened and cuddled and gave _the best hugs ever._

When Naruto was old enough to join the Academy and moved into his own apartment, Toshi-nee taught him how to do basic chores and make simple meals before just...swooping him up and taking him to _her_ home and sharing her warm-soft-cuddly bed some nights. She shared _everything_ with him. Her uncle, her apartment, her room, even her special lessons like what the clan kids got.

Toshi-nee was the _best_ sister ever and Naruto’s friends thought she was awesome and cool too.

Even if Kiba had a gross _crush_ and drooled and said he was going to marry her someday.

As if _Dogbreath_ who said mean things about girls sometimes would ever be _good_ enough for Toshi-nee.

Naruto didn’t think _any_ boy would ever be good enough for Toshi-nee, and he and Nobu-ji had a _sacred pact_ to make sure that no stupid boy broke her heart.

Like Kiba.

Or those stupid-pretty Uchiha bastards that he saw Toshi-nee look at just a _little_ bit longer than normal whenever they walked by when they were out shopping but who never seemed to give anyone else the time of day.

Even _Sasuke_ with his stupid duck-butt hair could be like that, and from what Naruto could tell he was a _lot_ more friendly than most of the other Uchiha-temes.

Naruto had been afraid - just a _little_ he was a shinobi in training so it wasn’t like a _lot_ or anything - that when Toshi-nee became a genin and had a jounin-sensei and a team and everything that she wouldn’t have time for him anymore.

Which wasn’t what happened at all.

Oh, Toshi-nee definitely had _less_ time for things. He almost never saw her with piles and piles of scrolls strewn around the living room anymore. Or spending lotsa time making those craft things she liked to do.

For months and months and months, all it seemed like Toshi-nee _did_ was train, train, train some more, pick up Naruto from school, help him with his homework and stuff, eat, and sleep.

There was usually a shower in there and stuff, but...yeah.

Naruto and Nobu-ji spend a _lot_ more time helping with the chores and doing the shopping than they had before, that was for sure.

Then the missions started, and he thought _that_ was going to be the end of it, but no.

Just because Toshi-nee wasn’t there in _person_ she definitely still made her presence felt in otherways. Like making sure Naruto had a key, so he could let himself into the apartment. And setting it up with the other shinobi in her building, like the weird one who always had a senbon in his mouth to just “drop by” and see if Naruto needed help with anything when Nobu-ji was gone on a mission too.

Even Iruka-sensei was in on it, taking him for ramen and answering any questions Naruto had about the homework the _other_ sensei assigned even if he was way too fair to help him out with the work he set himself.

Naruto missed her, especially since after the “warm-up” period of the first couple months where she’d only be gone with her spiky-haired Kakashi-sensei for a couple days working up to a week at a time, none of the missions they seemed to take lasted less than a month.

This last one was dragging on and on, Toshi-nee had been gone for _four months_ and it was ridiculous.

He may _almost_ be a real ninja, but he missed his sister.

And he wanted her to come home.

…

_“Motherfucker!”_

“Maa,” Kakashi studied his irate little genin with a slow blink of his eye. “What’s wrong Toshi-chan?”

Snorting softly, Toshiko glanced around them at the white expanse of the Land of Snow and waved her arms in a _what isn’t_ motion, with a particularly hard jab behind them towards the castle that was in flames and the princess - an actual fucking princess - who was knocked out and slung over Kakashi’s shoulder.

“The mission was completed, Toshi-chan.” Kakashi told her, firm but understanding her point. “It may not sit right, but we were hired to extract the princess. That the king died is _a_ failure, but not _our_ failure, do you understand?”

“I understand plenty.” Toshiko grumbled as they picked up the pace, working on putting a _lot_ of distance between them and the rebel forces that had effectively taken over the Land of Snow via a bloody coup d'etat. “Doesn’t mean I have to _like_ it.”

“No.” Kakashi allowed. “No it doesn’t.”

…

_February, 11 Years Post-Kyuubi Attack_

“...is that blood on Toshiko-san’s shirt?” Kiba asked, lifting his nose in unison with his ninken partner to sniff the air as class let out for the day and the students spilled outside.

Many of them either ignored the copper-haired genin loitering by the swings and well away from the others who awaited their own students at the end of the day or sent her dirty looks.

Mostly civilians, who were odd anyway as far as Kiba could tell.

It wasn’t the first time the Academy students had seen a civilian mom lift her lip or wrinkle her nose at Toshiko-san, and it probably won’t be the last.

That didn’t make it any less stupid though, as far as Kiba bothered to think about it.

Toshiko-san was _awesome_ and training to be a “powerhouse” according to his mom, and was learning from one of the best jounin in the village as his _apprentice._

It did _not_ get cooler than that, even for clan _heirs_ let alone a non-clan kunoichi.

Or any kunoichi, really, since even Inuzuka girls tended to get pointed towards the medic-nin track, even if they ended up field-medics like Kiba’s sister was training to be instead of village medics.

Kiba wasn’t supposed to know that, but he had _ears_ that worked and a mom who didn’t pull her punches when it came to bitching about the “limp-dicked old bags” who “type-cast” kunoichi as either medics, genjutsu specialists - who usually _also_ specialized in _infiltration and seduction_ though Kiba wasn’t supposed to know that _either_ \- or diplomats for escort and envoy missions.

Frontline fighters or hunters like his mom were pretty rare, and up until Toshiko-san had _always_ been clan kunoichi according to his mom-and-sister’s rants.

Hana didn’t even _care,_ she liked being a medic and being able to heal her team or her ninken partners, but she _did_ care that her kunoichi friends couldn’t specialize as easily as the males surrounding them.

It was stupid and annoying and frustrated Kiba whenever he was forced to think about it instead of ignoring it like he’d rather do.

He was _so_ glad he wasn’t the clan heir and had to deal with that sort of political bullshit.

Because that would be terrible both for him and the clan when they ended up feuding with _everybody_ once Akamaru got done biting everyone who pissed him off for being too stupid to breathe his air.

Which, based on the way his mom talked about the _“limp-dicked old bags”_ that made up both their clan elders and the Council of Clans, would probably be everybody.

“Nee-chan!” Naruto shouted and waved, darting out ahead of them and pulling Toshiko-san up into a big hug.

“She must’ve come straight from a mission.” Shikamaru observed, dark eyes _locked_ on the pair. Which was normal. The Nara heir was interested in puzzles and as far as that went for _people_ , Ono Toshiko was one of the big ones in the village.

“I think it’s sweet.” Ino announced firmly, complete with a nod that sent her blonde ponytail swinging. “That she came here to see Naruto-kun instead of going straight home to clean up.”

And as the Queen had spoken, with the rest of the class _more_ than familiar with how things went when others argued with the Yamanaka Heir, the rest of class 5 (no more A, B, C, etc. in their final year of Academy) shut their teeth on whatever they might’ve had to say about Toshiko-san’s current appearance or level of cleanliness.

Which wasn’t to say that none of her contemporaries _never_ argued with her, just that with experience they’d all come to realize with Ino it was better to choose their battles wisely and prepare for an uphill slog.

And even then they were likely to lose due to Ino’s stubbornness outdoing their own.

Toshiko took a long look over the minor assemblage of kids from Naruto’s class - all of the civilian-born kids including Sakura had been picked up by their parents who eyed Toshiko and Naruto with varying levels of disgust, disdain, or the rare instance of ambivalence as Naruto slumped over onto her, forcing her to hold up his weight as he attempted to - poorly - smother her with affection.

With proper nutrition he wasn’t the smallest person in his age group.

Toshiko, as she’d come to irritated resignation over, _was_ by a distinct margin having topped out so far at around five foot - or 152 cm - tall and wasn’t likely to grow more than another inch (two if she’s lucky) as she finishes maturing.

She wasn’t _entirely_ sure yet if shinobi matured faster than civilians or if even civilians were better off than the people from her old world or if she was just mis-remembering from her first life, because while her height had followed the same trend in both lives thus far, the _rest_ of her physical maturity was happening even faster.

And she hadn’t been a late bloomer _before._

She wasn’t just talking about her bust and bottom starting to round out into true fullness either, but her actual shoulders and hips that had been just as broad as her other sisters despite being between four and six inches shorter than them. Toshiko had been - there really was no other description for it - _solid_ as an adult woman. Strong bones, shoulders and hips to support _curves,_ with an alternately smaller waist - usually by at least 10-12 inches depending on how heavy she was - that even when she was facing the worst of her weight struggles due to Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome that had her packing on pounds she couldn’t shed without fasting and a _lot_ of work outs, gave her a dramatically nipped-in look that was more figure-8 than the hourglass/coke-bottle figure that had been considered the ideal for most of her original life.

Toshiko as an adult woman had the build that if she planted her feet and sank into her center of gravity, could - and had - tossed much larger people on their ass or over her shoulder with relative ease.

Toshiko-now wasn’t nearly as _compact_ as that due to a lifetime of physical training from an uncle that had taken one look at her “dainty” features and focused on making her fast and agile rather than a strength demon, but she was still facing down a future of being one of the smallest people around over the age of twelve - yay.

Only this time instead of nephews to rub it in, she had a little brother.

Funny how that worked, yeah?

“How much longer until graduation for you guys?” Toshiko asked, doing some quick math as spending a long time - months was the usual anymore - out of the village on one mission or training trip after another with little more than a handful of days at best to recover in between had shot her mental passage of time all to hell.

“Five months, Toshi-nee.” Naruto beamed down at her.

“Hmm,” Toshiko hummed, thinking. “Why don’t I take you and your friends for dango?” She offered. “Celebrate - late, but...anyway - making it to your final term?”

Several of the “Rookie Nine” - as they may or may not yet be dubbed in this world, who knew how things would go - perked up at the thought of free food and/or sweets, including Kiba and Chouji.

“Really?” Naruto perked up even more, almost bouncing in place. “Really really?”

“Really really.” Toshiko confirmed, smiling up at him with squinty eyes. “I _did_ just come back from a mission, it’s not like I can’t afford it. I’ll go change and meet you all there,” she turned to encompass _all_ of the remaining kids from Iruka-sensei’s class, not just the couple that she knew were _particular_ friends of Naruto’s. “In twenty minutes?”

The kids traded considering looks, especially the couple that didn’t usually _do_ this kind of outing with the others like the Hyuuga Heiress, Aburame Shino, and Uchiha Sasuke.

“Sounds good.” Sasuke took the lead, after trading looks with first Shikamaru then Shino before searching Toshiko-san’s face for any sign of deception or Naruto-kun’s for distaste at the idea of them joining. “I’ll tell my mother.” He decided then sped off towards the Uchiha Compound, one of the only kids that was expected home right after Academy unless he’d already made plans to stay late and train.

The rest of the kids dispersed to either do the same or to head for the dango shop, Toshiko saying something too quiet for anyone else to hear - and Kiba tried - before disappearing in a _shuushin._

“Your sister,” Kiba sighed, stars in his eyes and unashamed of it no matter how many times he got into scraps with Naruto over his crush. “Is _amazing.”_

“I know she is.” Naruto said, rightfully smug at Kiba’s words - even if his crush on his sister was still gross. Then he darted off towards the dango shop. “Let’s go! If Toshi-nee beats us there, she’ll tease for _days.”_

At the thought of being teased by the older girl, the rest of the remaining pack of Naruto’s classmates followed on his heels, none of their egos certain enough that a few well-placed words from someone admired - for one reason or another - by Naruto’s classmates (at least the non-stupid ones, in his opinion) wouldn’t puncture them flat.

And _that_ was a humiliation not one of them would willingly sign up for.

Even from someone as cool or awesome as Naruto’s Toshi-nee.

…

“How much longer until she’s ready for the Chuunin Exams, Kakashi-kun?” The Hokage asked with false-idleness as he studied the jounin through a cloud of smoke following the Copy-Nin’s report regarding his most recent mission with his apprentice.

It had been a bad mission from the start, but the Land of Snow had been an ally of the Land of Fire since the Warring States period.

They couldn’t _not_ send a team to fulfill the request of the now-dead-and-deposed Daimyo to extract his daughter and prevent her murder at the hands of the Daimyo’s brother who now was set to rule the Land of Snow with an iron fist following his successful coup.

It was a dirty business, but one that had to be done.

And Kakashi-kun and Toshiko-chan had managed it admirably, no matter how distasteful they each - though they kept their feelings from the reports with aplomb - found leaving the Daimyo himself behind to die when they might have been able to save him.

But that, unfortunately, wasn’t the mission.

Kakashi snorted.

“Toshi-chan could’ve run through the Chuunin Exams a year ago and _sauntered_ through them last November.” Was his assessment. 

At the moment they were in the “waiting” period between each set of exams, which took place in Kiri this last round - and as a result didn’t have any teams from Konoha attend. Things were _easing_ between the two countries now that their civil war between the Sandaime and the Yondaime had been settled for a couple of years, but tensions weren’t so settled that the Hokage was willing to risk teams of genin and their instructors experiencing _accidents_ in the way to or from the Land of Water, let alone in the exams themselves.

Even a pair as good at taking care of themselves as Kakashi and Toshiko.

The next set of exams in a few months would be in Suna and while relations were always fraught when dealing with Rasa, at least the Land of Wind was nominally an ally.

Making someone like Ono Toshiko wait until Konoha’s turn to host the exams in fifteen months or so would only be _asking_ for her to make a scene or a diplomatic incident.

“She’s been _ready,_ that’s never been the question. Is she ready to take them on _alone_ in the spirit of a true hunter-nin?” Kakashi arched a brow, knowing that if the Hokage went forward with the _tradition_ Viper was pushing - despite the last genin to take the test alone being Uchiha Itachi and for different reasons than that - then even if Kakashi put up a protest Sarutobi-sama might exercise his prerogative as Hokage and override him anyway. 

_Technically,_ the Hokage wasn’t allowed to override anything when it came to apprentices, especially an apprentice to a Clan Head, according to several of the clauses put into law during the Founding. Technicalities had never mattered to the Sandaime when it came to certain people he knew to be loyal enough that they wouldn’t push the matter into the aegis of the Clan Council.

Kakashi hated being predictable, but he knew the Sandaime for the most part had his number when it came to having a near-allergy to political bullshit.

Much like his kawaii little apprentice.

Another year - give or take - for the last of the baby fat to refine down off her face and Kakashi was going to be beating boys and girls away from his Toshi-chan with _sticks._

Or his ninken.

He was flexible like that and he was sure Naruto-kun would be more than willing to help, to say nothing of Viper.

Kakashi shrugged, sighed, and nodded. “She can handle it. And Suna is better than some other options, though depending on whether Kumo attends or not, you might want to prepare yourself for an _incident_.”

Hiruzen winced, running one hand down over his beard.

“She wouldn’t…?” The Sandaime let the question hang there in the air between them, heavy with concern over the kunoichi’s state of mind as much as the problems it might create with another Hidden Village.

Ono Toshiko was _hardly_ the only shinobi in the village to carry a grudge against one of the other hidden villages.

It was whether her fierce temper - rare as it was to see in full display - could be kept to _appropriate_ expressions of her dislike, such as during the exam, and not lash out against Kumo-nin who had diplomatic protection while in the village for the length of the exam in Suna.

Or when they inevitably attended the ones in Konoha next May.

“She’s merciless with adult Kumo-nin, Hokage-sama.” Kakashi reported drily, thinking of the two times they’ve come across Kumo teams trying to interfere with their missions. “Worse with Kumo missing-nin. But she doesn’t go out of her way to permanently damage any genin or young chuunin we’ve come across during courier missions, and behaved herself that one time we ran a message for you to A. She has a handle on it and knows what is expected from her as a shinobi of the Leaf.”

“There’s worse things.” Hiruzen decided. “Than a Konoha hunter-nin with a _nose_ for Kumo missing-nin. So long as she knows her duty and doesn’t forsake other missions and bounties in favor of hunting Kumo alone, then I foresee no trouble coming from such a _preference.”_

Considering how Kumo teams tended to - try, without success thus far - hunt Konoha teams with dojutsu, though much more _quietly_ after their Sandaime’s disgrace over the Hyuuga Affair, in many ways having a Konoha hunter-nin out in the field attempting to _even the score_ so to speak was quite apropos.

“One last mission, before focusing on her exam preparation.” The Hokage handed over the scroll - a simple courier run to Takigakure that would take about a month. “A final C-Rank, for nostalgia, rest for a few days then leave. With your team’s speed, there is no need to leave sooner than five days hence.”

Kakashi rolled his eyes, as they hadn’t done a C-Rank mission in more than a year after he’d made sure to fulfill the minimum requirements for her eventual promotion.

“Of course, Hokage-sama.”

“Dismissed.”

…

“Are you home for a while now, nee-chan?” Naruto asked later that night between slurps of miso ramen with pork that Nobu-ji had picked up for all of them rather than any of them attempting to cook, especially when it turned out that Kakashi-sensei left the Hokage’s office with another mission scroll for them.

“Just a couple days, Naru-kun.” Toshiko sighed and let her head fall back and roll to release tension as she set down her bowl and chopsticks. “One last mission before prep for the Chuunin Exams, or so sensei promises.”

“Chuunin Exams?” Naruto’s brow wrinkled in confusion, since promotion guidelines were some of the very last modules Academy students were drilled in before the exam review period.

“Mmm.” Toshiko hummed, then explained. “One of three ways to promote from genin to chuunin, otouto. They’re held every six months on a rolling basis between the hidden villages. It’ll be Konoha’s turn to host in a little more than a year, but I’m already overdue according to sensei, so we’re going to the next one in Sunagakure instead.”

“Ohhh.” Naruto nodded, appeased with that bit of information. “That’ll be awesome! Chuunin Nee-chan!” He thought for a long moment as he slurped up more broth, chasing a last few noodles in his bowl, then asked the question pinging at his mind. “What are the other two ways?”

Toshiko restrained the urge to smirk victoriously.

From what she could remember - and it’s been a _while_ at this point, even if she’d made herself a reference guide for events both major and minor before the information slipped away - the village civilians had done an _excellent_ job, along with shitty bigoted teachers, of beating down most of Naruto’s curiosity.

Or at least restraining it, until he met Iruka, and even then by that point so much damage had been done to his education that he didn’t even _know what he didn’t know_ to ask the right questions once he had someone willing to give him answers.

It handicapped him, for the majority of his early shinobi career from what she could tell/remember, and kept him in a spiral of never _quite_ looking deeply enough at presented information until he was almost beat around the head with it or stumbled right into a clusterfuck.

If there was a single sign that she’d done _some_ good with the changes she’d made, it was in that simple little question and a pre-teen boy who was willing to actually _ask_ it.

“Field promotion during wartimes,” Toshiko answered easily. “Or qualifying for a promotion board by completing a set amount and spread of missions successfully then going through a test spar and knowledge exam to ensure you’re at the right level of ability for promotion.”

“Both of those are also the methods used for determining tokujo and jounin rank.” Nobu told both of his little monsters. “So keep that in mind.”

“Huh.” Naruto filed that away, then asked a different kind of question entirely: “so what were you _really_ doing in the Land of Snow, nee-chan? I know it wasn’t rescuing kittens and bunnies from bandit traps.”

“Classified, you brat.” Toshiko tossed a chopstick at his head. “And I _did_ rescue animals from bandit traps. It was just, you know, part of a greater effort that happens to be classified.”

Like sabotaging a coup, for instance, even if only to buy time for the hime-rescue operation.

“Weird.”

“That’s shinobi life, kiddo.” Nobu nodded sagely. “Weird isn’t even the half of it.”

…

Kakashi had never given a lot of credence to the idea of there being an actual “C-Rank Curse” as most of the shinobi ranks called it.

Yes, he’d dealt with missions that hadn’t had enough information and changed midway through, or things going sideways, but nothing outright _wonky_ enough to qualify for the so-called bane of genin teams.

Then he took the last C-Rank mission with his apprentice as a genin, and that curse he didn’t believe in came around to visit them with a _vengeance,_ all the worse for having been delayed so long.

It wasn’t the mission _itself_ that ended up being the problem.

No.

It was the trip _back_ that was a scene from Kakashi’s worse nightmares, and almost ended with both of them if not _dead_ then permanently injured.

If he’d been training anyone _but_ a future hunter-nin who was already well into chuunin abilities in skill and beyond that in her ability to plan and plot, it _would_ have killed them.

Points also had to be given for sheer dumb luck.

Well, that _and_ Toshi-chan’s unapologetic love of rescuing fuzzy creatures, which like some enchanted princess in those civilian fairy tales she always wrinkled her nose at, ended up being repaid with the most immaculate sense of timing Kakashi had ever seen.

…

They’d completed their run to Taki and dropped off their courier scroll with the headman before staying the night at the small village - and everything had been fine.

Where things went from normal to _supremely fucked up_ was the next morning after Kakashi and Toshiko left the Village Hidden in the Waterfall and were about an hour out from the border between the Land of Lakes where Takigakure was located and the Land of Fire without so much as an odd breeze as warning.

Well there _was_ a breeze.

It was just from a triple-bladed scythe attached to a _fucking madman_ , zealot, and (because of course he was) S-Class criminal missing-nin by the name of Hidan that was a somewhat-recent addition to Kakashi's bingo book after his defection from Yugakure.

Kakashi dodged, Toshiko ducked, and the missing-nin with combed back silver hair, a wicked laugh, and a black cloak with red clouds stepped out of the shadows and into view.

“Fuck.” Toshiko took one _look_ at one of the weakest members of Akatsuki and knew that they’d need to be fast and lethal from what she remembered about him.

Especially since she couldn’t hear, smell, or _feel_ with her chakra another presence.

And Akatsuki always worked in pairs.

While Hidan and Kakashi bandied words - she knew her sensei _well_ by this point, Kakashi was trying to figure Hidan out and come up with a plan to take him down - she scraped through the dregs of her memory for how this guy was beaten before.

Something about burying him under a ton of earth and rock and leaving him to starve to death?

She didn’t think that was viable without a lot of prep time but...there was more than one way to skin a cat, and she was pretty sure fanfic had figured out the easiest way to kill this asshole was taking off his head and then letting him starve _that_ way.

Disappearing with a _shuushin,_ (she’d be insulted that Hidan didn’t pay her even a glance but he was already congratulating himself on giving _The Hatake Kakashi_ as a sacrifice to his god, so whatever), she signaled Kakashi from behind the missing-nin with her plan, the Copy-Nin having taught her both Konoha basic shinobi signs _and_ the ANBU-specific ones during their first year together.

Neither of them were deluded about what was in her future, and Kakashi was apparently (shocker) a proponent of _over-preparation_ rather than under-preparation.

Given that he’d taught an eleven year old Sasuke the Chidori in canon, which is one of the most powerful lightning release techniques going, she hadn’t been totally surprised by that.

Rolling her wrist to uncoil the ninja wire hidden under her archery bracer, she swiftly attached one end to the end of an arrow, unsealing her bow and standing ready.

Then she _moved_ in unison with her sensei, firing and jumping in a singular motion that had taken _months_ to master as Kakashi pounced forward, engaging Hidan and forcing him to fight Kakashi and his summoned shadow clones - and keeping him from any display of gymnastics that would fuck over what they were trying to accomplish.

This was a trick that was a one-off per shinobi, since they - generally speaking - weren’t obliging enough in their dumbassery to give her more than one shot.

It worked on surprise, half of which was due to both her being _slight_ even for a young kunoichi and another forty percent on how rare archery was for shinobi as a skill set.

That last ten percent was pure dumb luck when it worked and at least served as a distraction when it didn’t.

Ninja wire looped around her armored wrist, Toshiko _shuushin’d_ across her arrow’s path, and watched Kakashi for the signal then _yanked_ with her not-inconsiderable strength and momentum from the body-flicker.

Hidan’s head popped up his neck like a grape off its stem as the makeshift garrotte sliced clean through meat and muscle and tendon, the shocked look on Hidan’s still animated face as his body went one way and his head the other the sort of thing that was both entertaining as _hell_ and guaranteed to haunt her nightmares.

The trick worked like this: the arrow served as an anchor point where she’d drilled it through a tree, with her _shuushin_ creating the loop and one of Kakashi’s strikes actually serving to knock the nearly-invisible but impossibly strong filament down over Hidan’s head. Once it was in place and Kakashi signalled her, Toshiko in turn tightened the garrotte and - in theory, when it worked - off went the head. She couldn’t do it herself, it was an assassination technique that required an assist as she couldn’t guarantee on her own that the loop would hit the right spot or that she’d have the timing perfect.

But as a partnered technique, like the A-B Combo Double Lariat that she adapted it from?

It had a sixty percent success rate for assassination, another twenty percent as a capture technique, and an even split the rest of the time between failure and causing at least some level of damage to those who escaped it.

And, as it relied so heavily on surprise, it only worked the once.

Moving quickly, Toshiko pulled out what she called a body-bag scroll despite them having an official name of body storage sealing scroll, and locked away Hidan’s body as Kakashi-sensei nudged his still-talking (mostly cursing at this point and that was _not_ a nice thing to say about anyone’s mother) head with a look of horrified bemusement on his face.

Another body-bag scroll, this one empty (she was taking no chances) and the foul-mouthed semi-immortal fucker was locked away to starve to death.

Which wasn’t a _kind_ death but the asshole had done it to himself.

“Alright, Toshi-chan?” Kakashi asked, looking his chibi-apprentice over. Twice as deadly as other shinobi her age and still looking like a too-strong wind might blow her over (as far as her height and baby-face were concerned anyway) he wasn’t _worried_ per se. It was more that despite - or maybe _because of_ \- their handling the missing-nin with ease, all of his senses were on high alert and _screaming_ to get to safety.

“Fine, Kakashi-sensei.” She answered, even as she recovered her arrow and kept her bow out and ready, clearly just as spooked by the sudden attack as he was by the oddity of it.

He set his jaw, nodding firmly.

“Back to Konoha, full speed.” He ordered, not wanting to spend another second out in the open with warnings jangling up his spine.

He wouldn’t rest until they were back inside the safety of Konoha’s walls.

Unfortunately, what Kakashi _didn’t_ know and Toshiko _did_ was a simple fact: Akatsuki always worked _in pairs._

And Hidan’s - Sasori of the Red Sand, though even Toshiko wasn’t aware of that or even who all _were_ a part of the organization of missing-nin - was nowhere to be seen.

Which left just _one_ thought running through Toshiko’s mind: _who was_ and _where was_ Hidan’s partner?

And why hadn’t they shown themselves yet?

One mile from being in home territory after being forced west towards the triple Grass-Lakes-Fire border, they found out - by almost _tripping_ over Hidan’s partner and one-half of the reason why the pair had been haunting the area.

Deidara of Iwa, who Sasori and Hidan had been sent to _collect_ for Akatsuki while they were investigating the identity of Taki’s jinchuuriki.

There was _bad timing_ , Toshiko thought as she swore viciously in the shadows of the trees when the feeling of high-level jutsu brought her and Kakashi to a screeching halt.

And then there was _this_ bullshit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thoughts on the Akatsuki:
> 
> All of them are strong, powerful S-Class criminals, however, when it comes to taking them down and/or picking them off one at a time, they get infinitely easier to deal with especially with knowledge of their powers and how they work.
> 
> This also is several years before the Akatsuki really make their debut in the Naruto series, so I think I'm not entirely out of line by having at least a couple of them lower powered or less impressive than they were in canon.
> 
> The rest of the Akatsuki aren't going to be nearly as easy to deal with in future encounters but with surprise and knowledge on the side of Kakashi & Toshiko, I'm giving them the clear win in this situation against Hidan who if you know the trick of it and move fast, is one of the easiest members of Akatsuki to take out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A Note about Character Ages:
> 
> I’m being a bit squishy in my timeline (the same as Kishimoto, way to make life difficult, dude…) so these are at best approximates on how old everyone is at this point.
> 
> In brackets next to the character’s age is an estimate of how long that character has been an active shinobi based on info pulled from their backgrounds and the wiki.
> 
> The “Dad” generation: Inoichi, Fugaku, Shikaku, etc.: early to mid 30s depending on how young they were when they had kids. [Shinobi Career, Approx. 20+ years]
> 
> Kakashi: 24 [19]
> 
> Shisui: 18 [12ish]
> 
> Itachi: 15, nearly 16 [10ish]
> 
> Toshiko: 13 [2]
> 
> Main Character Generation: Naruto, Sasuke, etc. all around 11, pre-genin final year of Academy.

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Seven: No Kill Like Overkill**

_There was bad timing, Toshiko thought, and then there was_ this _bullshit…_

…

Hatake Kakashi wasn’t having a pleasant day.

A final _milk run_ mission had been the plan, one last tally mark on his apprentice’s record before they buckled down for a couple months of training before the upcoming Chuunin Exams in Suna.

Sarutobi-sama wanted (and Kakashi didn’t exactly _disagree_ with his kage’s plan) little Toshi-chan to _wipe the floor_ with the teams from the other Elemental Nations.

Especially since Kakashi was going to have her pull an Itachi and glide through the exams solo instead of with the standard three-man team.

And the mission _had_ been a milk run. They’d made easy time, Toshi-chan’s speed and stamina had come along _massively_ since he’d gotten her, and even spent the night in the village since Taki was one of their nominal allies. An easy run back and it would’ve been done: no harm, no foul, and they could dig back into straight-training.

What _wasn’t_ in the plan was being _ambushed_ by a S-Class ranked missing-nin that half the elemental nations were convinced was _fucking immortal_.

Hidan, formerly of Yugakure, carried a bounty in the _millions_ when combined between all the individual amounts from the various countries - and he was wanted _everywhere_ but Iwa and Ame - on top of the flat one-million ryo fee that Yugakure themselves had put out on the asshole when he’d gone missing-nin a couple years before.

A couple years that he’d pretty much spent pissing off the entire _world_ as while old fence-sitter Onoki hadn’t put out a bounty on him in Iwa, he certainly wouldn’t cry at his funeral either.

However, Hidan was used to fighting shinobi...not vicious little monsters like Kakashi’s darling Toshi-chan who had a relatively simple outlook on life: no one could survive decapitation and failing that - kill it with fire.

Kakashi’s kawaii little genin would be tossing the sealing scroll with Hidan’s body in it in an overpowered _Katon_ before the night was over, or he’d stop reading porn.

He could almost hear her deadpan explanation to the intake chuunin who’d have to verify the kill and send out the paperwork for the bounty claims to the rest of the hidden villages: _kinda hard to reattach a head and escape when there isn’t a body anymore, amirite?_

Not wanting to deal with anymore roadblocks, Kakashi swung them a bit west to avoid other ongoing missions, caravans, or other issues with the plan to then run through the night before bunking down and running all the next day, rinsing and repeating as needed until they made it back to Konoha.

If nothing else, it would’ve been a test of Toshi-chan’s stamina.

Best laid plans, however, often just _begged_ to be foiled and the fabled C-Rank curse wasn’t done fucking with them as they almost ran _straight_ into a battlefield far larger and filled with more jutsu residue and Killing Intent than the one they left behind them outside Taki.

Crouching under the shade of the trees - they weren’t _quite_ inside the Land of Fire but their trees tended to encroach outside their borders if the adjoining lands don’t cut them back - with their chakra smothered down as much as possible to avoid detection, Kakashi almost let loose with a filthy curse when he got a good look at the combatants.

The grave, almost drawn look on his apprentice’s face before she pulled up her mask and attached her hair-cover’s seal to her forehead matched his own dread.

Deidara of Iwa was listed as an A-Rank threat in Konoha’s bingo book, and with being able to observe him fighting Kakashi could likely come up with a solution to his explosion release.

His opponent on the other hand...wasn’t nearly as simple of a problem to handle.

Sasori of the Red Sand, the most accomplished puppeteer of his generation - perhaps ever - and, by all accounts, _insane_ with it. It was openly known that he used a unique poison that no one had fashioned an antidote to, and was perfectly capable of destroying an entire _country._ Sasori was, by all account, a _fucking monster_ to fight and no one who fought him seemed to have any idea how to even do more than survive let alone win.

And even that was a hit-or-miss proposition.

This day was turning into a nightmare and it wasn’t even noon yet.

There was only one play they had - wait the fight out, surprise attack whoever won, and then run like _hell_ if they couldn’t kill them immediately.

It wasn’t much but it was what they _had_ if they didn’t want to have to run straight to Konoha without rest - something he wasn’t certain Toshiko could handle, yet, since she wasn’t fully to adult strength and stamina yet - constantly waiting for an attack from the rear.

They already _knew_ Kakashi and Toshiko were there if the quick glances were any sign before they tightened down their chakra and moved.

And if Kakashi wasn’t mistaken - and he knew he wasn’t - Sasori and his puppets were all wearing the same _odd_ cloaks as Hidan.

Which was just _perfect_ and if the puppet master won - and there was no reason why he shouldn’t other than Deidara outthinking him or getting a lucky shot - then they’d have the asshole on their asses _anyway_ for taking out his partner.

Kakashi would rather fight when the winner was still coming off the _current_ fight - one hell of one too, that was a level of destruction he hadn’t seen in person for sheer wanton damage since the Third War - and already dealing with chakra and stamina drain as a result.

_Sasori is going to win._ Toshiko signed rapidly as her eyes shot wide when Sasori revealed “himself” to Deidara.

Apparently without backup, the explosion expert managed to force Sasori to take him seriously, when not even the Iron Sand from the Third Kazekage puppet managed to do much to the Iwa missing-nin.

Which, given that Deidara alone took out _Gaara_ in canon, Toshiko wasn’t surprised by that.

Puppets vs. explosions wasn’t the best matchup in the world, but if she wasn’t mistaken Sasori has probably already poisoned Deidara and would need to cure him in order to return with him alive to the rest of the Akatsuki.

It wasn’t the best recruitment plan in the world, but whatever worked was apparently the philosophy of both Nagato and Obito.

Kakashi nodded, eyes narrowed on the fight as he took in the _odd_ body of the master puppeteer, making a disgusted face when he realized that Sasori had made _himself_ into a puppet of some kind, not just used them.

_That seal thing._ Toshiko jerked her chin towards Sasori’s left, over his heart. _Weakness?_

Kakashi made the sign for _clone, distraction,_ and then _Chidori_ , Toshiko following along as they both kept eyes on the fight that was starting to wind down - and true to both of their expectations with Sasori coming out on top.

Then...oh.

Toshiko and Kakashi both hit the deck as an explosion rocked the surrounding area, Deidara having pulled off the infamous Iwa Suicide Bomber jutsu after wobbling on his feet and Sasori informing him that he’d won and Deidara was slowly dying of his poison.

Kakashi was up on his feet a moment later, Sharingan spinning and Chidori lighting up, his clone _shuushin’d_ across the way as the pair of Copy-Nins pinned Sasori between them and _tore_ through the seal weakness they - and Toshiko - had spotted on the master puppeteer.

“Always the look of surprise.” Kakashi commented idly as his clone dispersed and he pulled his fist out of the now _gaping_ hole in Sasori’s chest where his - though Kakashi didn’t know it - his living core used to be.

In a clatter of gears and joints, Sasori _literally_ fell to the ground as a puppet with his strings cut, Kakashi wasting no time in collecting his body and the rest of the downed puppets with help from his apprentice.

And then at last they got _far far fucking away_ from S-Class _fucking missing-nin_ and foul fucking coincidences and misbegotten-fucking-cursed missions!

Bounty or no bounty, as chakra exhaustion pulsed through Kakashi and terror for his chibi-apprentice haunted his steps all the way back to Konoha, he was _never_ going up against S-Class missing nin with only a _genin_ for backup ever again.

Even one with the skills and level-head of his Toshi-chan.

No.

Just, no.

Right about then, not two miles inside the Land of Fire border, was when he, of-fucking-course collapsed.

Chakra exhaustion from overusing his Sharingan in combination with using Chidori in unison with a shadow clone.

…

_“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.”_

Toshiko cursed as she darted forward and caught the falling form of her sensei.

Glancing around, she shrugged and laid him out when she didn’t register any threats nearby, speeding through the hand signs for a diagnostic jutsu and _praying_ that he hadn’t been caught by Sasori’s poison.

The results were...well they weren’t _good_ but they weren’t imminently lethal either so she’d take what she could get.

If _ever_ in her new life Toshiko felt entitled to _fucking panic_ it had to be more than a day out from Konoha, having _somehow fucking survived_ two and a half Akatasuki (because Deidara wasn’t really the same level of the Deidara that was inflicted with Itachi’s Tsukiyomi and trained like _hell_ to avoid ever experiencing it again) out of sheer ninja-ing it with the surprise attacks only to have her mentor _fucking collapse_ from chakra exhaustion.

And did she mention that they were more than a day from Konoha and only a couple miles from both Kusa and the Land of Lakes, either of which would probably _jump_ at the chance to hamstring Konoha via one murdered Kakashi if at all possible without being blamed for it?

Yeah.

Worst day _ever,_ second only to both her mom’s death and the Kyuubi attack in her personal opinion, and for all her planning and preparation and skills and so on, there was literally _fuck-all_ she could do about chakra exhaustion as long as Kakashi was unconscious from it.

It wasn’t like chakra pills came in a liquid squeezy form like glucose (though...hmm, that was an idea) in her old world and she could just squirt some into Kakashi’s mouth and have it absorbed by his system.

Or that field first aid covered being able to _share_ chakra with another shinobi, since that was the sort of dangerous high-level medic iryo-jutsu that people had to be specially trained to do.

You know, so they don’t poison and/or short out another person’s chakra system.

Or just flat-out kill them in the process.

So _that_ was off the table.

Chidori was awesome and massively effective, Toshiko would never deny that.

_But_ the chakra demand was unreal, even with training it up between missions - because Kakashi wasn’t taking the chakra-intensive assassinations or what-have-you while he was focused on training her so he worked on his own training in the process - he could only use it four or five times _a day._ And that was at full capacity. Splitting his chakra between, say, shadow clones?

Well that just fucked his average all to hell and gone, to the point that Toshiko thinking about it after the fact wasn’t surprised that his bit of overkill - though, Sasori of the Red Sand so _was it really?_ \- cost his chakra reserves big time.

His implanted Sharingan was also an issue, if less of one than it was in the past thanks to help training it and figuring out how to handle the chakra drain from his favorite Uchihas, but an issue nonetheless. In the state Kakashi was in even as minor of a constant drain that he’d gotten it down to over the years, it was still a drain on his chakra and at the moment one he couldn’t afford. But that Toshiko couldn’t do anything about other than lower his headband over his red eye and hope the seal to nullify the Sharingan worked without Kakashi consciously engaging it.

Ugh.

Hauling his heavy ass - he was head and shoulders taller than her and likely always would be the massive fucking giant - back to Konoha was going to _suck major ass._

Sealing away her bow and quiver, Toshiko made quick work of either sealing up or strapping down any of Kakashi-sensei’s _many many_ hidden weapons, then rolled him a bit to make him easier to sling over her shoulder.

And then she looked up.

Until her dying _day_ (or her second one, whatever) Ono Toshiko would _fucking deny_ that she squealed like a stuck pig at the sight of a massive _fucking cat_ sitting three feet away from Kakashi’s limp form and just _watching them_ with placid golden eyes.

…

The dappling on the leopard - _snow_ leopard, Toshiko corrected herself as the cat moved farther into the daylight and out of the shadows of the surrounding forest - hid them with the ease and excellency that it was designed for. Soft pads and smooth movement didn’t stir the undergrowth under paws too large for a normal leopard. Even ninja-bred animals didn’t come in sizes _that_ much larger than regular animals: the snow leopard with its brown, black, and grey markings on a pure white coat was the size of a _fucking horse._

No, it wasn’t a normal animal, not in the least.

Which left _summons_ and this far away from Konoha with an unconscious Kakashi-sensei _was very much not good_ especially since for the life of her, Toshiko couldn’t remember a single shinobi that claimed any kind of feline summoning contract.

There was a lot of headcanon surrounding Tobirama, she was pretty sure, but nothing official.

A soft snort and a shake of that large head - _damn, those were some cute ears and eyes, plus that_ tail _even if it was more likely that Kitty Supreme was more interested in_ eating _Toshiko than it was in letting her coo over it_ \- was the only sign that Toshiko’s steadily rising terror hadn’t gone unremarked by the big cat.

“Peace, kitten.” The great feline rumbled in a voice too deep to be anything but male. “I have not come to do you or your dog summoning friend harm.”

Toshiko let some of the tension release from her neck and shoulders, though she remained at the ready to...do _something_ even if she didn’t have any idea _what_ against a summons animal that large and with Kakashi-sensei being dead weight at the moment after saving both their asses from _Sasori of the Red Sand._

“Why have you come then, leopard-san?”

“For you, kitten, we have been watching you for some time and now it seems a timing most fortunate for me to give you _this.”_

The leopard set one paw next to Kakashi’s limp form and then there was a soft _poof_ following a flex of chakra that confirmed that Toshiko’s visitor was no ordinary cat.

As if the _talking_ part didn’t do that already.

But this was Naruto-land and _nothing_ here followed the rules of nature that she still sometimes fell back on from her first life.

And _oh_ as the summons animal lifted his paw, _she knew what that was,_ remembered watching a boy with messy blond hair and bright blue eyes pack one similar around in a “fictional” story.

A summons scroll.

And by the golden knobs and edging, a _sage_ summons scroll.

Toshiko knew her eyes were as wide as dinner plates and couldn’t for the life of her find her tongue to ask the question that was begging to be voiced for long moments.

“Why?” She asked desperately. “I’m not all that powerful, I’m skilled but not even at jounin level yet.” She’d get there one day, she _would._ “Why would you give me this when there’s so many others…”

“Ah ah ah.” The leopard shook his great head. “None of that now. The summoner of the snow leopards must be confident, but not brash. Kind to their own and fierce to their enemies. Intelligent yes, but a survivor more. We have watched you for many months, Ono Toshiko, ever since you saved one of our younglings who wandered too far from the Senri Steppes and into a poacher’s trap. There is no other we have seen since the death of our last summoner and Snow Leopard Sage who has half your heart, kitten.” He leaned in close to her wide, panicked eyes. “As Tobirama-sama was the White Demon of the Senju, feared by all who faced him in either hidden shadows or open battle, _you_ could become the huntress of all who would harm your own. The choice, Ono Toshiko, is _yours_.” He glanced down at the weakened dog summoner. “Though I suggest you make it quickly. One way or another, you need to move on from here, lest you lose your mentor before you’ve learned even _half_ the canine-lover has to teach.”

…

Nara Shikaku entered the Hokage’s office following Sarutobi’s summons and instantly narrowed his eyes as he saw who _else_ was a part of this impromptu meeting.

Outside of the Clan Council and/or village-wide emergencies, it was beyond rare to see the heads of the Uchiha, Yamanaka, and Nara clans together (or rather Fugaku, Inoichi, and Shikaku himself) in private audience with the Hokage as well as the heads of T&I in Inoichi’s former protege Morino Ibiki and the ANBU Commander, Dragon.

Shikaku knew who Dragon was - of course he did, it was literally his _job_ as the jounin commander and head of Intelligence to know - but he’d be willing to bet he was the only one except for Sarutobi, the ANBU second in command, and Dragon himself who had even an _inkling_ about the face that hid behind that wicked mask.

It should be noted that the Dragon mask wasn’t the only one that the ANBU Commander wore, concealing his command of Konoha’s black ops behind being a _member_ of said black ops which gives him both another layer of protection for his penultimate identity as well as an inside look - so to speak - regarding what was going on inside his own command.

All of Shikaku’s senses were screaming that this was a set-up, not in the least because he was the last to arrive, he just didn’t know how, why, or regarding what.

“Ah, Shikaku-kun.” The Hokage waved his jounin commander and the village’s finest tactician into the empty seat next to Inoichi. “Excellent, now we’re all here.”

“Why _are_ we all here?” Ibiki asked gruffly, face a mask of suspicion comparable to the warning tingling up Shikaku’s spine.

“For matters of grave importance.” Hiruzen admitted with a sigh, setting his pipe aside and handing a stack of files for one of his ANBU guards to hand out before slipping back into the shadows. “That of succession.”

The stunned silence that followed _that_ little pronouncement had the sensation of a trap springing around Shikaku’s ankle as he hurriedly flipped open the file handed to him and furiously bit back on a curse.

Succession, _indeed._

Sarutobi had compiled, Shikaku flipped through the pages and pages of information on various village-wide appointments and possible candidates to fill a sudden vacancy or to submit as an official line of succession, _dozens_ of options consisting of the best and brightest young shinobi in the village.

_Troublesome._

Not the matters of _clans_ , that had been left alone - wise of him - but for positions like the two Shikaku held or even the Hokage’s own?

Options and options and options covering various eventualities.

Before some of his highest-ranking shinobi could lose their collective minds, Hiruzen explained.

“I’m old, gentlemen.” He bit out. “Old and _tired._ I was old and tired when I passed my hat to the Yondaime and I am old and tired now, more than a decade after taking it back following his death. It is my intention that at the very _least_ within the next year I pass my hat on once again, even if only to a placeholder while a younger shinobi can gain the needed wisdom and experience before taking up the Kageship.” He tapped his fingers on the desk as realization broke over several faces, Fugaku in particular looking like he’d been slapped in the face with a dead fish.

Probably because of all the possible candidates for various positions in the village, it was that of Kage that had a truly short list - and half of the four names on it were Uchiha.

“Hatake doesn’t want it.” Inoichi said what pretty much all of them were thinking. “Now or a decade from now, he would only take the seat as a last resort until another could be trained or convinced to take it.”

“Agreed.” Dragon and Shikaku said almost in unison, the masked ANBU ceding to Shikaku with a tilt of his head to speak first.

“He _could_ do the job, that’s not in doubt.” Shikaku spoke slowly and thoughtfully. “But he doesn’t have the heart for it, even if there is nothing wrong with his power.”

“And his head isn’t exactly screwed on straight either.” Dragon added sardonically. “A few more years without suicide missions and he might - _might_ \- make a decent ANBU 2IC but for the moment anything more than his current work as a jounin-sensei would be ill-advised.”

Inoichi and Ibiki both nodded emphatically, while Fugaku just watched stoically.

Hatake wasn’t his favorite person - to say the _least_ \- with his _gifted_ sharingan and odd behavior but he was a powerful shinobi of Konoha nonetheless.

And his skills as an assassin were unparalleled, except perhaps by ANBU Viper but given one worked in absolute secrecy and silence while the other was a much more public figure, it was hard to say for certain.

“Either of the young Uchiha would make a dangerous Kage for our enemies to challenge.” Dragon spoke up again. “Their skills are feared across the elemental nations and their spars often end in draws due to lack of desire to seriously harm each other. Shisui however in my experience is more practical while Itachi has an idealistic streak a mile wide.”

Fugaku looked alternately pleased and like he’d swallowed a lemon at that analysis of his Heir and Heir’s protector.

“Both are loyal to Konoha.” Inoichi added his two ryo. “Whichever is not selected should be an exemplary head of the police.”

“Are we discarding the other candidate out of hand then?” Hiruzen asked in idle warning for the oversight.

Shikaku sighed and then took the hit - and the glare - from their Hokage.

“Uzumaki is a _child_ who is still hated by most of the civilian population.” Shikaku said bluntly. “In twenty years and another war where he flaunts his power? _Then_ it might be worth discussing. Now?” He shook his head. “We wouldn’t even get his nomination passed by the Clan Council let alone present it to the Daimyo for approval, not even for a possible future successor, the Yondaime’s legacy child or not.”

Several of the others sucked in a shocked breath at Shikaku daring to broach the taboo subject of Naruto’s parentage, even as Hiruzen eyed him with a strange look in his gaze.

“Then it will be your job,” Hiruzen told Shikaku pointedly, leaving the Nara clan head with zero wiggle room to escape the trap he walked right into with his estimation of Naruto-kun’s potential. “As my temporary successor and Godaime Hokage to vet and train _both_ Itachi-kun and Shisui-kun and decide between them for the position of Rokudaime, to take the hat in five years’ time.”

Shikaku spit out a truly _foul_ curse that had Dragon and Inoichi laughing at him - the fucking bastards - while Fugaku puffed up with pride in his knowledge that either his cousin or his son would become the first Uchiha Hokage in Konoha history.

“Now,” Hiruzen moved on, ignoring his irate successor. He’d tried giving the hat to a man who sought it, and Minato-kun died shortly thereafter. It was his hope that by choosing someone who’d never _wanted_ the power of being Hokage, that Shikaku-kun would escape the bitter ending of three of his four predecessors. “For our new jounin commander…”

…

It didn’t take Toshiko long to make a decision, especially with Kakashi-sensei growing paler by the moment.

Without further hesitation, she crossed over his body to where the leopard left the summoning contract and opened it wide, losing her breath a moment as she saw the last name written in strong kanji: _Senju Tobirama_ that merely confirmed what the leopard had already told her.

“Forgive me, leopard-san.” She said absently as she pricked her thumb on one of her knives and used it to sketch out her name before spreading the blood to each of her fingertips and pressed them below her bloody signature. “What is your name?”

“Isamu, kitten.” The great leopard looked up from fastidiously grooming one of his paws. “My name is Isamu, I am one of the main summons for the Snow Leopard contract.” He tilted his head a bit as he watched her go through practicing the hand signs for the summoning jutsu, clearly familiar with it even if she’s never used it before.

But with a summoner for a teacher, that was no surprise, even if he preferred _canines_ to clearly superior great felines like Isamu’s imposing self.

“I am a battle cat.” He supplied freely. “Though with your current chakra reserves, I would be a, shall we say, _last resort_ summons? At least until you have trained up your chakra reserves to handle the drain I will require to appear.”

“Good to know.” Toshiko blinked, then eyed up his massive form. Yeah...she could easily see why he would take a toll on her reserves to call out, given the, you know, _size of a horse_ thing. She rolled up the summoning contract and sealed it away into storage before she forgot, tucking the significantly smaller scroll into her belt. “Ready.”

“Make sure you are touching your mentor.” Isamu warned her. “The reserve summons should pull you both to the Senri Steppes, and in such a chakra rich environment your mentor _should_ recover much faster while you speak with our Sage and confirm the details of the contract, yes?”

“Yes.” Toshiko nodded, then sped through the hand-signs as she literally _sat_ on Kakashi-sensei’s chest with one leg wrapped around a limp arm to make sure he was pulled through the reserve summoning with her on Isamu’s advice. “ _Kuchiyose no jutsu!”_ She slammed one bloodied hand onto the ground and with a draining _poof_ of chakra, they were gone.

…

The Senri Steppes were vast.

Turning her head in one direction, all Toshiko could see all the way to the distant horizon were fields of tall grasses swaying in the wind.

In another, foothills and mountains rose up formed of sheer rock faces dotted with caves and treacherous for the unwary to traverse.

And all around her were leopards of one species or another: tawny leopards napping in trees or haunting the grassland, snow leopards with their long tails reclining on the rocks overhead. Leopards watching her with interest or boredom. Even melanistic leopards - commonly called panthers - with their black-on-black rosette designs skulked about in the shadows of the caves only given away by the golden flashes of their eyes.

The Senri Steppes were also, as promised, thick with chakra in the air.

No sooner had they arrived and Isamu showed her to a small tree with spreading branches providing shade for Kakashi-sensei to rest underneath in safety than had some color started to return to his washed-out features.

Well, what little of them she could see around his tilted headband and concealing facemask.

Toshiko had been his apprentice for two years and she still didn’t know what he looked like and found that it didn’t bother her as much as it probably should have.

He was Kakashi and he kept his face covered.

That was good enough for her.

“Come, kitten.” Isamu prompted her, booping her lightly on the head with his tail. “Noriaki-sama and Yudai-sama await.”

…

“Toshi-chan, why are we surrounded by _massive cats?”_

“We’re in the Senri Steppes, Kakashi-sensei, where the leopard summons live.”

“Oh, okay, _what?!”_

It was official: if Kakashi could _at all_ prevent it, he was _never_ taking another C-Rank Mission as long as he lived.

S-Class criminals he could handle.

Being surrounded by massive, man-eating _felines?_

Not so much, even if Toshi-chan’s ease in the situation made him genuinely question her sanity.

Also: they were going to be late back to Konoha due to his chakra exhaustion and the summoning jutsu spitting them back out (once he was _allowed_ to leave the leopard lands according to one of Toshi-chan’s new _friends_ ) at the same place they left, just inside the Land of Fire border.

That was just... _perfect._

“You’re lucky we were already going to train until the Chuunin Exams.” Kakashi grumbled in one form or another until he managed to get the scent of _cat_ off his clothes, gear, and person. “Or you’d be _so grounded_ for that stunt, missy!”

“Nobu-ji?” Toshiko smirked and glanced around with wide eyes. “Is that you?”

“Ha-bloody-ha.” Kakashi narrowed his eye on his _cute_ little apprentice then smiled brightly behind his mask.

As if she could sense her impending doom, Toshi-chan turned her head slowly to glance at him, Kakashi waiting for her to meet his gaze before hopping a bit in place and clapping his hands together.

“Toshi-chan!” He said cheerily as _doom_ seemed to spread out over her kawaii little face. “You have _summons_ now! You know what this means! Your favorite thing: _chakra exercises!”_

And that filthy curse that _did not_ belong coming out of a teenage girl’s mouth?

That was _music_ to Kakashi’s ears.

Her summons - and they would be having a _conversation_ with her uncle about that reckless streak he thought they’d trained out of her rearing its ugly head again - made him _stink like feline_ from him being hauled into their sage lands.

Payback was _sweet._

Overkill maybe, but still sweet.

…


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone asked about Toshiko's sealing ability. Yes, it's known that she is trained/has studied/can use seals. What's *not* known is that she can transfer and use them via touch. That's her main ace-in-the-hole so to speak, and as a result it's information she's never shared or shown another person. She continues to train it and maintain it, but she would only use it in a life-or-death situation like fighting the Akatsuki.
> 
> Or, you know, killing Danzo...
> 
> Edit: 10 October 2020 - Inconsistency with Toshiko's age.

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Eight: Red Sky Warning**

“Part of the agreement is that she undergo Sage training with the Snow Leopard Sage once she has the reserves to handle it.” Kakashi finished reporting, the frown on the Hokage’s face only getting deeper and deeper with each part of his report.

Shikaku - and Kakashi would _love_ to know why the jounin commander was present for this meeting - merely had that blank _deep thinking_ look on his face he got over complex matters.

Like, for instance, his people being involved in taking down two S-Class criminals, even if another A-Class criminal had _severely_ softened the second one up for them.

Or the fact that while Kakashi _distinctly_ remembered there being bodies to go with their bounties along with some of Sasori’s puppets, none had been turned in with the black-bound body storage scrolls containing Sasori and Hidan’s heads.

Not that Kakashi had _said_ anything about the missing scrolls, though he would _certainly_ be asking his cute little apprentice some pointed questions - especially since Suna would demand to have any of Sasori’s effects returned to him and at the moment there was nothing for Konoha to hand over.

Which would go over about as well as a lead balloon.

He already knew what she would say, the subversive little shit. Something along the lines of having no _orders_ about the bodies or the puppets, despite what was common courtesy or standard procedure, so if something _had_ happened to them, like an overpowered Katon jutsu, then she didn’t _technically_ break any rules. With Toshi-chan the devil was _always_ in the details.

Kakashi had weaned her off of her more overt displays of her _issues_ with the Hokage, but the little things that she could hide behind details and minutiae were pretty much a lost cause and would be, he had a feeling, until they had a new kage.

One she actually respected instead of just grudgingly tolerated.

Which was why as much as possible he kept his cute little apprentice out of these meetings, lest she slip and end up down in T&I being interrogated regarding her at-times borderline disobedient behavior regarding the Sandaime.

“Having another Sage loyal to the Leaf will be a boon, given that the others are rarely,” if ever, “within the village.” Shikaku commented, twirling a pen between his fingers. “When do you think she’ll be ready?”

Sage training could take months or years depending on the student, and generally - the Sannin aside - only occurred once or twice a generation.

“A year.” Kakashi estimated, reviewing the progress Toshi-chan had made on her chakra levels. “Maybe less, maybe more. But from what the medics are saying her height is about finished, it’s only the rest of her that needs to finish maturing. She’ll be fully matured by sixteen at the latest is the current estimate.”

And he was _not_ happy about the thought of his chibi-apprentice being approached by _boys_ once she was and he ran out of excuses to keep her from _dating._

Sending her off to train with her leopards was a blessing in disguise once the medic finished with her post-mission review and hit him with _that_ news. As the only living person with any type of leopard contract, at least she would be _safe_ and untouched in the Senri Steppes.

“And the training itself?” Hiruzen asked when Shikaku was thinking that over.

For that, Kakashi didn’t have an answer, having to simply shrug his shoulders.

“Your guess is as good as mine.” He reminded the man who was the original sensei of not one but _three_ sages in his time. “Minato-sensei never fully devoted himself to sage training, but I know he spent a few months with the Toads at one point.”

“And her companion?”

“Ah.” Kakashi ruffled the back of his head sheepishly. “Yua-san will remain with Toshi-chan either until she returns to the sage lands for her training or until they’re fully integrated as partners, six months to a year.” He said, speaking of the juvenile female snow leopard with grey eyes who, despite being the size of a non-summons adult snow leopard wasn’t yet full-grown. “Standard for summoning partnerships.”

And he would know, since he’d had to do the same integration for all of his pack as well as keep up with their training to maintain their effectiveness as summoner and nin-animal partners.

“Make sure she gets a Konoha hitai-ate for Yua-san then, Kakashi-kun.” Hiruzen sighed and thought wistfully of the Founding Festival in another month, just before they would be sending off the pair and the other genin teams participating in Suna for the Chuunin Exams. After much debate, it was decided that the festival was the best time to reveal the new Hokage and that by pushing it back until then it would give both Shikaku and his replacement in Hyuuga Hizashi for jounin commander time to learn their new positions before being expected to carry them out in public. “We wouldn’t want there to be any _accidents,_ now would we?”

Kakashi thought fondly for a moment of allowing Yua-san to maul a few particularly foul civilians before sighing and shaking his head, taking the instruction as his dismissal and body-flickering away to locate his erstwhile apprentice.

“How much do you think they left out of that report?” Hiruzen speculated, not an uncalled for question given that the pair was more than a week late returning from a simple courier mission and with a most fantastical tale to tell for the delay.

“Oh, at least half.” Shikaku said mildly. “But I have a feeling from a... _diplomatic,”_ he mouthed the word as if it was covered in filth. “Perspective I have a feeling we’re better off for it.”

Hiruzen snorted softly. “When it comes to that pair in particular, as Hokage you will likely find that you’re better off not knowing, no matter how much it tugs at your inquisitive nature, Shikaku.”

Shikaku only nodded, more than familiar with Kakashi’s antics over the years, and took Hiruzen’s words in good faith.

A bit of advice that likely saved him quite a few grey hairs over his relatively short tenure as Godaime Hokage, a fact that he likewise didn’t like to think _too_ hard on.

…

“Yua-san is _so cool,”_ Naruto breathed out as he tried - unsuccessfully, but points for effort - to bury himself in Yua’s fluffy black-white-grey coat.

The snow leopard, markedly even-natured and indulgent towards “kittens” like Naruto, merely purred at the attention being lavished on her magnificent self by her summoner’s younger litter mate, then took to attempting to groom his messy tufts of yellow fur with her tongue.

Naruto, in cuddly-animal-heaven, didn’t even notice though there were _many_ pictures taken for later blackmail purposes by Toshiko and Nobu.

“I always knew you were a cat.” Nobu lightly teased his niece. “What with the independence, and the napping, and the wandering off whenever you felt like it.”

Toshiko just rolled her eyes and went back to work on reading her latest jutsu scroll from Kakashi-sensei. Isamu-san had been _absolutely_ correct in his estimation of her training. They didn’t call her mentor Kakashi of the _Thousand Jutsu_ for no reason. And while he’d taught her many things, her jutsu repertoire was nowhere even in the same _realm_ as his.

The Sharingan doesn’t _completely_ teach those that have it active any jutsu they record after all, Kakashi still had to put in work to memorize all kinds of things with it from effects to the chakra levels needed to the hand seals, but for anything C-ranked and lower he only had to see the jutsu the once to learn it where an S-ranked jutsu would probably take a dozen exposures and even then if it relied on kekkei genkai he’d still be SOL.

She in turn was limited by several factors, of which her lack of sharingan was only one.

There was the marked difference in chakra levels available between a (nearly) thirteen year old kunoichi and a twenty-something shinobi. There was her not having a sharingan to help her get around when a nature transformation wasn’t from her natural earth/doton affinity. There was the difference in chakra _control_ between a teenager and an adult.

And so on, and so forth.

The main remedy to all of which was the application of sheer hard work and effort as well as the dreaded chakra control and expansion exercises.

There was also the fact that she couldn’t just _drop_ part of her other training to add more jutsu-learning time to the docket, especially with needing to integrate Yua into her fighting and tracking styles.

Toshiko was off missions until after the Chuunin Exams but that in no way lessened her work load.

If anything, _because_ he knew she wouldn’t have to leave on a mission, Kakashi-sensei was working her twice as hard as usual and just as demonically as the first six months of her training under him.

 _Oni-sensei_ had once more replaced quirky, occasionally fun Kakashi-sensei and she wasn’t _thrilled_ about it to say the least but took it as her punishment for leaping first and looking never regarding the snow leopard contract...and, maybe, _“losing”_ the scrolls with puppet pieces and semi-immortal bodies inside them to a “mis-aimed” Katon jutsu.

At least there was a time limit to Kakashi’s demonic behavior this time if he wanted her in one piece and not falling down when they arrived in Sunagakure, so there was that.

It was a mere _glimmer_ of light on the horizon, but at least it was something.

Given that he’d even gone so far as _tossing her at Gai_ for taijutsu practice with his genin team, she _needed_ an eventual end to her punishment to look forward to, or else she might finally snap and strangle her _beloved_ sensei with his own face mask.

…

The announcement of Nara Shikaku’s ascension to Hokage a week later was a welcome distraction and a surprise all at the same time.

With Sarutobi making no noises about finding a new successor, she was starting to think he was going to leave it in limbo until he died. Again. Well, depending on how she looked at it anyway.

Shikaku was an interesting choice, but she could see it.

Iwa still had one _hell_ of a bounty on his head for his actions during the Third War, and everyone knew his tactical ability.

It was that Sarutobi had _convinced him_ and that the Uchiha didn’t seem mad about it that were the biggest shockers for her personally since her thought if Sarutobi wasn’t planning on dying still wearing that ugly ass hat and making them clean up one last mess of his making, was that it would be Itachi taking it.

Then she remembered: Itachi in this timeline she was living was only three years older than her.

Fifteen, and a genius, but still only fifteen.

There was no headtrip _quite_ like putting ages to events, like the horrifying realization that if the Uchiha Massacre _had_ happened, Itachi would’ve been all of thirteen or fourteen when he was backed into a corner and ended up slaughtering his clan to prevent a war.

She remembered reading somewhere that Itachi was a great man...but he wasn’t a _good_ one.

Toshiko didn’t have a problem with that, _she_ wasn’t a good person either.

But if she had to label Minato or Tobirama, she wouldn’t say that _they_ were necessarily _good men_ either.

Good men usually didn’t make great military leaders, too tortured by the decisions they had to make to protect their people to handle them in the long run.

What kind of _good man_ sealed a bijuu inside his newborn son _when he had the option of destroying it instead?_

The kind who saw a weapon that his village couldn’t afford to lose, that’s what kind.

Still, it was weird being sent off to Suna by Godaime Shikaku instead of the Sandaime, especially when the man held her and Kakashi back a bit from the rest.

“Give them hell.” Her new kage ordered, staring down at her firmly, not an ounce of give in his face. “ _Remind_ them why Konohagakure has never lost a war.”

“As you wish,” Toshiko gave him a tilted-nod of her head in a mini-bow complete with lowered eyes, one not required of her but given freely anyway which had Kakashi blinking at her in near-shock. “My kage.”

“There’s a kunoichi.” Shikaku smirked, then waved them on. “Happy hunting.”

…

“You _really_ didn’t like the Sandaime, did you?” Kakashi commented quietly as they took the rear guard of the procession towards Suna.

“I like him just fine as a person.” Toshiko admitted after a long moment’s thought. “I _hate_ how the choices he made affected those I love.”

Given that Kakashi wasn’t a fan of those same choices, he let it rest at that, and didn’t ask again even when Toshiko’s trend of more respectful behavior towards Konoha authority failed to waver even months and years later.

…

Three other genin teams were part of the entourage for the Suna-hosted Chuunin Exams, under jounin-senseis Nara Ensui, Yamanaka Santa, and Inuzuka Shion but what Toshiko found _particularly_ telling was that neither the jounin or their genin had so much as a single steal-able dojutsu between them with the sole exception of Kakashi-sensei’s gifted sharingan.

The Inuzuka tracking-and-capture weighted team with its branch Hyuuga member (she was guessing based on the obsessive and exacting placement of her hitai-ate) was the only visible example of a Konoha dojutsu to be seen.

Which just went to show that even in nominally friendly territory like Suna, Konoha (or the clans themselves) took no chances when it came to tempting eye-thieves.

Of the group, only the Yamanaka team were from Toshiko’s same class in the Academy with the Inuzuka’s genin from the year above and the Nara’s from the year below.

It was _fine_ if not comfortable, since the Yamanaka team didn’t have any of the kunoichi she’d spanked in their final year for the top slot, with Akimichi Aimi instead who’d put in the work but hadn’t been as naturally talented as the female Uchiha in their year or as book-smart as the female Nara.

(And no, Toshiko couldn’t for the life of her remember their actual given names.)

Honestly, the biggest chunk of tension came from Shion-sensei’s ninken partner Gorogoro staying _well_ on the other side of both their camp and walking formation from Toshiko’s Yua, but as Yua despite not being fully grown was _bigger_ than the ninken that looked like a breed similar to a border collie, Toshiko couldn’t blame him.

The other genin were sceptical when they realized that Toshiko would be running the exam with only Yua for help (and even that much hadn’t been originally planned) but shut up quick enough when Kakashi-sensei mentioned it was a family tradition.

Thank the Sage for clan bullshit because if there was a single phrase that shut down small talk and gossip alike faster than either _clan matter_ or _family tradition_ she’d yet to find it.

Staring out over the desert at the walls of Sunagakure as the sun rose (none of them had wanted to spend another day trekking through heat and sand and relentless sun) and painted the sky and sand alike the color of blood, Toshiko couldn’t help but arch a brow as an old saying from her former life rang in her ears:

_Red sky at morning, sailors take warning._

Hmm...she wondered. Would the oncoming storm be physical? Or, a smirk curved up the edge of her mouth under her mask, merely _metaphorical?_

Call her crazy, but she couldn’t _wait_ to find out.

…

They must make quite the sight, Toshiko couldn’t help but think, as they lined up the day of the exam start and as in canon completely bypassed the genjutsu meant to deter the genin who _really_ weren’t ready for the challenge of the exam.

And what a sight it was, not necessarily Toshiko herself, as while she’d worn her _best_ set of uniforms, all of it was comfortable and worn in, but Yua.

Since she hadn’t helped with Sasori, other than with Kakashi-sensei’s recovery afterward, she wasn’t officially listed on the bounty completion - but even so Kakashi-sensei had splurged in his own affection-allergic way on new storage scrolls and supplies for Toshiko along with weapons sharpening and replacing anything that was beyond simple refurbishment.

And then he’d gone to the nin-animal outfitter shop that mostly catered to the Inuzukas but kept a few other things on hand for both Kakashi himself and the other rare summoners in Konoha, dropping a pretty ryo on a shinobi mesh chest piece/harness type rig with the Konoha hitai-ate on the collar for Yua.

Toshiko could’ve bought it herself, but she’d come to find that Kakashi-sensei took his duties as her apprenticeship master _seriously_ and wouldn’t hear of it even with her being granted half the bounty off Hidan with the rest going to her sensei as was proper given that on her own she would’ve been dead meat even if she did, technically, strike the killing blow.

They’d gotten to Suna a full three days before the exam was set to start, which gave them a little time to rest and attempt to adapt to the dry heat. (She also turned thirteen, but there would be time for celebrating _that_ once she had her promotion in the bag.)

Needless to say, Yua wasn’t best pleased in the _slightest_ even with being a nin-leopard and not as sensitive to temperature shifts as a regular snow leopard would be.

Toshiko had checked out the markets with Yua in tow, scouting out everything that didn’t get her turned around by the shinobi guards, and even purchasing quite a bit of pretty glasswork that would take care of her birthday presents for _years_ once she was back home for her family...and not once had she felt chakra even close to Naruto’s in all her wandering.

Which, given that at this point Gaara was still batshit insane and murderous, probably meant that either the Kazekage was keeping him under lock, key, and constant guard or far more likely had sent him off out of the village entirely to remove him from temptation of creating a massive diplomatic clusterfuck.

Because when a kage’s kid commits flat-out _murder_ against another village who was present under a binding agreement of armistice for the exams, it bypassed a mere _incident_ at the speed of light and went straight into unrecoverable territory.

Toshiko lined up, Yua at her side, when prompted by the proctor under “Team Hatake” which had more than a few of the others who hadn’t a clue prior who she was - particularly from Iwa and Kumo - eyeing her sharply.

Whether their issue was with Kakashi-sensei or his infamous dad, _that_ could very well be a problem for her later on.

But first she had to pass the Suna version of an intelligence and information gathering test...ah, yeah, that made sense, via _poison_ identification and/or nullification.

“Each box,” the proctor explained, a kunoichi with black hair tipped in orange - like a reverse foxtail, Naruto would love it - as her assistants passed out said-boxes. “Contains three vials. All three of them must be given to the guard,” she pointed to a shinobi leaning against the wall. “Two of them must be sealed. One must be drunk by a member of your team. Two of them are poison.” She smirked viciously as about half the genin present went milk-white. “If you wish to withdraw, you may do so at any time during this test. All registered members of your team must be capable of continuing to the next phase otherwise your team fails. You have one hour. Begin.”

Glancing down at Yua, she nodded and layered a minor genjutsu over her partner who she’d drawn the Iwa and Kumo symbols for the night before, the snow leopard going off to memorize the scents of the genin from those villages as Toshiko worked on her part of the test, everyone else convinced thanks to the minor illusion that Yua was still sitting next to her and Toshiko was having the snow leopard smell the vials.

Little did they know, that while Kakashi-sensei couldn’t _teach_ her to use a near-canine sense of smell like he’d inherited from his father’s family, he _could_ teach her to enhance her _natural_ sense of smell with chakra - which was exactly what she did, in order to find the vial she _thought_ was harmless but would double check with the actual Yua when her partner returned.

While she waited, she entertained herself by fucking with the worst of the genin who’d glared at her after hearing _Hatake_ via genjutsu over their vials designed to throw off their ability to determine which was which.

That they were also from Iwa was merely a bonus.

Yua returned well inside the hour mark, confirming for Toshiko which vial was grape juice - it _looked_ heinous and purple but tasted just fine, then rose and handed off her box to the guard a moment later.

Kakashi-sensei met her on the other side of the door with an iryo-nin who confirmed that Toshiko had taken the juice and not poison, then led them over to the waiting area where a handful of other teams had beaten her out of the exam room, including the Inuzuka tracking team from Konoha.

Using ANBU signs, Kakashi asked: _why so long?_

 _Tagging competition,_ Toshiko replied with a cheeky grin and a glance down at her lazily satisfied feline partner who was getting ear-rubs from Toshiko while they waited. _Kumo and Iwa._

_Good planning._

“Really, Kakashi?” Nara-san leaned over and gave the silver-haired Copy-Nin a _look._

Kakashi merely shrugged, completely unrepentant, much to the other ANBU’s total lack of surprise.

Once the hour was up, the proctor returned and a field that had originally been almost three dozen teams and over a hundred competitors strong had been winnowed down by a full third as the proctor led them through the village and over to a massive set of gates that - unless Toshiko was very much mistaken - led to the desert equivalent of Konoha’s Forest of Death.

Again, an assistant handed out what they’d need for the exams (and unlike the Chuunin Exams in canon, release forms were part and parcel of the competitor paperwork in the first place) Toshiko taking careful note of both what _she’d_ been given and that of her targets - the six Kumo teams that made it into the second round.

There were also five teams from Iwa left, the four Konoha teams, six from Suna, and one each from Kusa, Ame, and surprisingly... _Kiri_ that happened to contain a _very_ pretty girl or a flat-out gorgeous boy that Toshiko was starting to suspect might be Haku of Wave Arc infamy.

What the _actual_ fuck?

She knew - everyone knew at this point - that the Yondaime had won his civil war against the Sandaime but...woah, that was a _big_ ripple if that little warning she’d sent out years ago kept Yagura from being brainwashed via Obito’s genjutsu.

Which if the bloodline purges were over, and she had to assume they _were_ with who-might-be-Haku representing Kirigakure at a Chuunin Exam...then yeah.

There was no reason to think that Yagura was the same evil asshole that he’d been under Obito’s control.

Focusing back on task and world-encompassing realizations tucked away to freak out over later, Toshiko carefully studied the dainty - _fragile_ \- glass ornament of a kunai she’d been handed by the proctor’s assistant, spotting others with ones representing the different elements, Yin-Yang symbols, shuriken, and even one in particular that went to the Kiri team of a three-tomoe sharingan eye.

“To successfully complete the second task of your exam,” the proctor barked out. “Each team will have to traverse the sand field beyond within five days, surviving with only the supplies you already possess or what can be found in the sands. In addition,” her smile turned wicked. “There will be chests located throughout the field. Each will contain additional glass figurines. In order to pass this portion of the exam, each team will need to collect enough figurines to have a point total putting them in the top _eight_ teams.”

“Of each type of figurine, there are ten in total spread out between the teams and the chests.” The proctor gave the breakdown, picking up one from the tray in front of her for an example. “Weapons,” like Toshiko’s kunai or the shuriken held by the Kusa and Ame teams. “Are ten points. Elements are twenty, Yin and Yang, twenty five, and Sharingan,” she sent a vicious grin towards the Kiri team. Huh. Some animosity there for sure. “Fifty points.”

Math. Why was it always math? At least it was base tens so...roughly a thousand points possible, if she did an even split which would give the eight highest teams points and none for the rest that was...one thirty? One twenty-five? Somewhere in there.

“There is also,” the proctor held up an hourglass figurine, similar to the symbol worn by Suna shinobi on their hitai-ate. “A single Sunagakure figurine, which if found is an _automatic_ entry to the third round of the exams.”

Well, Toshiko arched a brow, if _that_ didn’t set the fox in the henhouse as the buzz of whispers and plotting kicked up into high gear. She did the math, that would add up to twenty-eight genin advancing, enough to do an immediate elimination round after day five and then another public tournament of twelve genin for the final round of the exams.

And then the gates opened, and the proctor began releasing teams with five minute intervals between them.

Toshiko and Yua, naturally, were right in the middle of the pack.

Damnit.

…

Tossing up another minor genjutsu - she’d never be a master at it, but she could do misdirection and _don’t notice me_ sort of things all day long after Kakashi was done with her first year of training - she picked a storage scroll with a cushioning component usually for fragile groceries or glassware (shopping trip coming in handy about now…) and tucked away her kunai, then stuck the scroll with a sealing tag down her cleavage.

If nothing else, being bustier than the norm for her age was coming in handy about now, even if it irritated her the rest of the time with having to wear compression tops or fuck up her aim and center of gravity.

When their turn came up through the gate, Yua lifted her nose just inside and growled.

“There’s not a direction that doesn’t smell strongly of people, Toshi-chan.”

Yeah, Toshiko sighed, that was about what she figured.

“Kumo?” She asked, since if she was going to walk into a trap, it might as well be one where she was aching to fight anyway.

Yua cast for the scent for another moment, then nodded and loped off towards the West.

Into the setting sun it was then, which at least was in the right direction to exit the sand fields, so there was that going her way.

Unsealing her bow and quiver, Toshiko and Yua set to tracking down their prey since at the very _least_ she wanted to be out of sight by the time the next teams came through the gate - though she had a feeling that _someone_ was going to try and sit on it eventually and ambush teams as they came through.

Nobody yet apparently was willing to take their chances on collecting enough points or going through back-to-back-to-back team fights, especially with the proctor doing a randomized draw for entrance slots instead of by number, village, or team name.

Decent of them, considering that there was an added bit of difficulty with the scavenger hunt part added in above and beyond the hunting other teams bit that she thought was standard along with the survival test.

Tracking her first targets, with one of the glaring Kumo teams though she wasn’t certain about their skills given that none of them had anything too obvious on show, she found them at an open chest which, huh. Some of them must be obvious to use as traps maybe? Or trying to funnel the genin into confrontations?

Whatever, not her problem.

Instead of worrying about it, Toshiko readied a trio of arrows, smiled darkly, and loosed.

…

“Hey, Kakashi.” Ensui plopped down in that lazy sprawl that Kakashi was pretty sure was inherent - nearly a bloodline limit - for the Nara clan. “Going to partake in the time-honored tradition of upping your bet now that your girl has made it to the second round?”

All of the jounin instructors - the visiting ones anyway - were corralled together in a large conference room with the view from the monitoring set up playing on various televisions around the room while the hosting jounin were in a similar set up elsewhere.

Probably the Suna version of the jounin standby station, Kakashi knew from experience that that was where they viewed the Konoha hosted exams.

Kakashi shrugged. “No need,” he smiled under his mask as he watched his little monster wipe the _floor_ with the first unsuspecting team she tracked. “I’ve already bet on her to take the exams entirely, what would be the point?”

He watched with pride and Ensui with interest as Toshi-chan riffled through the team of...he winced, well that explained the rough handling as she tied them up, _Kumo_ genin and located their Yin-Yang token before appropriating it.

And, because it was _Kumo_ , helping herself to all their weapons as well, then letting Yua-san fill herself up on their water supply.

Ensui winced, especially as they both could _feel_ the KI coming off of who must be that team’s sensei from across the room when the Kumo contingent went into an uproar at her actions.

Including slapping seals of some kind on their foreheads before adding the tokens from the chest to a sealing scroll and leaving the Kumo team to the merciless Suna sun.

“Well,” Ensui sighed as Kakashi just sat there _radiating_ smugness as his pupil trotted off with her summons to track another hapless team. “I can see your point.”

“Maa, Ensui.” Kakashi settled in to enjoy watching his kawaii little monster wreak _havoc_ on her fellow genin. “My cute little Toshi-chan is _just getting started.”_

…


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: 10 October 2020 - Corrected Toshiko's birthday from 1 October to 1 May

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Nine: Huntress**

Now, no matter how much of a fuss that a particular jounin-sensei was inclined to kick up or even a group of them all complaining about the same thing, the fact of the matter was that it wasn’t unheard-offor a village to (on occasion) hold back a promising genin from a field promotion with the _intent_ of making a statement of power via the Chuunin Exams.

Case in point: despite Kakashi being relatively certain that the Kazekage’s two elder children were either Toshiko’s age or older, _both_ of them were still genin and neither was participating in Suna’s hosting of the Chuunin Exams.

Though he had to admit, he was enjoying watching the chaos as the Kumo contingent lost their Kami-damned _minds_ over his cute little genin _stomping_ all over their precious chibis.

Well, except for that one team that had seen the way the wind was blowing and made it to the exit of the sand fields with whatever points they’d managed to collect.

Smart.

Disappointing for Toshi-chan and forcing her to change targets now that they were leading into the night of the third day of the survival test, but smart.

The first night, the other jounin had all gone to bed - or to drink their woes away - once the sun went down and their teams started to make camp.

Kakashi had _known_ better and instead lingered, watching with sheer _pride_ as his kawaii apprentice knocked out another two teams under the cover of darkness before camping out herself and getting some rest under _heavy_ seal traps.

Now after two nights of her hunting their teams, the rest of the jounin remained to watch the coming show.

And in the case of the non-Konoha jounin, worry over whether _their_ team would be next.

…

Having knocked out all but one of the Kumo teams - that at this point she was relatively sure was already safe outside the sand fields, damnit - Toshiko on the third night of the test turned her attention to tracking the teams from Iwa instead which should make the Godaime _very_ happy.

Toshiko had a plan: not using ninjutsu except for camping until the third round.

It was _expected_ as Kakashi-sensei’s apprentice that she would have a full-on _catalog_ of jutsu to use in combat, which was exactly why she’d decided to rely mostly on her tracking/hunting/trapping skills during the first parts of the exam with some genjutsu thrown in - mainly to throw everyone off as it was still her weakest area of shinobi skills despite all logic pointing otherwise.

Genjutsu relied on imagination as much as skill with Yin Release but… Toshiko held in a mental grimace. Yeah. For all that she could use _seals_ and create them as well, had an okay ability with iryo jutsu, there was some sort of mental disconnect with genjutsu and illusions. Probably due to it not being a _grounded_ sort of skill set like sealing and medical ninjutsu both were or even the minor animation jutsus using Yang Release she’d picked up years ago and still played with using origami.

She was being _sneaky_ like a proper kunoichi, and intentionally misleading the watching jounin-senseis and her fellow genin regarding the depth, breadth, and concentration of her skills.

Yua actually made a _very_ convincing prop for that part of her plans, even if she was also an excellent tracking and hunting partner.

Her summons was also _cranky_ to say the least about the Suna heat, but other than hit her with a cooling jutsu every now and again and give her plenty of water, plus make camp during the worst of the heat in the afternoon, there wasn’t a whole lot Toshiko could actually _do_ to make Yua more comfortable since she wasn’t supposed to go back to the Senri Steppes until their partnership is solidified and unbreakable.

Tracking the closest Iwa team wasn’t difficult (and Toshiko was getting bored since she’d yet to really _fight_ per her plan) and she decided to shake things up by using one of her experimental area of effect seals attached to an arrowhead.

So...she’d gotten the idea from Marvel’s Hawkeye.

Sue her, his multipurpose arrowhead selector-quiver thing was _awesome._

She looked down at Yua as she took out two of her experimental arrows - Kakashi-sensei _had_ checked her seal work and confirmed that they _should_ work - and held them up for her partner’s inspection.

“Knock out seal?” She asked, holding up one with a painted white band on the shaft above the arrowhead and below the fletching. “Or shockwave that _might_ knock them out?”

Yua tilted her head in consideration, then looked back at the trio of Iwa genin, giving her a lazy feline grin then saying: “shockwave.”

“Excellent choice.” Toshiko shared a viciously pleased look with her companion as she did a mental calculation before running back a few strides to put her and Yua a bit farther away from the expected blast radius, put the arrow to the string, and _loosed._

She _might_ have winced in minor regret a few moments later when the shockwave turned out to be more effective than anticipated, leaving the Iwa genin with burst eardrums, but that was okay! She could fix that. And she would, since she didn’t want to _permanently_ damage a bunch of kids.

Still...that had been _awesome_ and almost worth the boredom _and_ giving away her position.

Feeling guilty about the overkill, Toshiko left the Iwa genin with their supplies and weapons intact, even if she _did_ tie them up before healing their ruptured eardrums.

They weren’t Kumo nin, no reason to _maim_ them during an exam.

She didn’t even take _all_ of their tokens, leaving them with enough that depending on how things went _might_ take them into the next round if they were willing to work for it during the last two days of the exam.

Already hearing Kakashi-sensei’s lecture over going easy on them, Toshiko and Yua legged it away from the campsite, planning on setting up to see who came to investigate her _present_ and maybe pick them off if they were assholes.

Of course, with Toshiko’s luck, the first team that dared it was from Konoha and looked rather the worse for wear.

Sighing at the pitiful sight that they made with their _epic_ sunburns and punch-drunk expressions, Toshiko popped up from her blind before they could get too close to the still knocked-out Iwa team.

“You don’t want to do that.” She warned them, not even trying to roll her eyes when they bristled and brandished weapons at the sight of her. “Calm down.” She barked the order. “We’re comrades and this is only a _test_ , I’m not going to fight you unless you _make me._ ”

Gulping a little, and remembering just how _vicious_ Toshiko-chan could be from the Academy, the other Konoha genin lowered their guard as she eyed them up.

“How many points do you have?” She asked point-blank, then rolled her eyes _again_ when they got all bristly again. “Seriously: calm your tits.” She snapped. “I could literally do this for weeks let alone days, I don’t _need_ your points and I’m not going to attack comrades, so…”

“Fifty points.” The kunoichi answered meekly. “We lost the rest to the team from Kiri.”

Huh, Toshiko thought, that explained the patch of frostbite on one of their arms.

And also how they were still functional, the Kiri team must be doing something similar to Toshiko: fucking with the other teams but not totally demolishing them unless there’s a pre-existing reason to do so.

“Which way was the Kiri team and how long ago?”

They pointed southeast and told her earlier that day after they broke their nightcamp, after which Toshiko pulled out some sealing scrolls and eyed the marks she’d made on them when she used the time while resting to sort her tokens.

“Here,” she tossed four of the sealing scrolls to the kunoichi. “Another eighty points.”

Her own one-forty (good to have a bit of a cushion in case she fucked up her math) was tucked away in a different scroll, while her “spoils of war” were sorted out into bundles of either twenty or twenty-five points.

The Godaime wanted the world reminded _why_ Konoha was feared - and that was a reputation built not just on sheer _damage_ talent but also teamwork and support.

She’d done plenty of the former thus far but was still light on the latter.

“Want an escort to the exit?” She asked patiently, sharing a look with Yua.

The trio whispered amongst themselves then gave her a tentative nod after a snapped insult regarding the frostbite that in particular needed treatment under a medic.

“Alright then,” she gestured Yua forward. “Yua knows where it is, she’ll show you and then return to me.”

“What?” They goggled at her, especially when she smirked and glanced towards the north where she heard another team incoming.

“I’m not done having fun yet.” She grinned wickedly. “Be careful, I’ll see you in the next round.”

And then she darted away into the dark night, leaving Team Yamanaka - otherwise known as her former classmates - to stare at her back in shock before her summons nudged them before taking the lead back to the exit of the sand fields.

After all, for a snow leopard under even a partial moon, tracking at night was easy as could be - easier perhaps given the lack of infernal _heat_ and sun.

…

Toshiko took out two more teams, one just as the sun was coming up, thanks to the draw of her shockwave arrow - and these ones she _actually_ took out instead of took mercy on like the schmucks actually affected by said-arrow.

Yua met up with her shortly thereafter, and the pair of them shared a glance and then decided that their work was done for the second task as Yua had tracked the two other Konoha teams to the exit while she’d been leading the Yamanaka team.

Good enough for Toshiko, and the pair of them were turning over their tokens - worth more than two hundred and fifty points after replenishing their “supply” of the glass ornaments on the two Iwa teams Toshiko trapped the shit out of after giving over points to the Yamanaka team - by noon.

Kakashi-sensei met them on the other side of the exit, laughing a bit at the sunburn that Toshiko had gotten despite all attempts - including both regular sunblock _and_ jutsu - to prevent it over her nose and the tops of her cheeks exposed by the gap between her mask and hair cover.

Walking her back to their inn, since finishing teams were released until sundown on the fifth day to rest if they finished early enough, he handed over a slim brown volume.

“Going to have to go with Plan A, kiddo.” He told her not unsympathetically, getting a bit of a confused glance until she opened the volume to the marked page.

And...ah.

That made sense, Kakashi-sensei was reminding her of her stated goals when he took her on as his apprentice two-plus years ago.

The volume was a bingo book, from Iwa according to the color and markings, and given that she was staring at a picture of herself standing over Hidan’s decapitated corpse with Kakashi _just_ inside the frame, her future as an assassin of the same stripe as her uncle had officially been killed.

Worse: because it was a picture from Hidan’s death and not, say, the aftermath of Deidara v. Sasori, it captured everything: her face, her hair, even her height and build with Kakashi for reference.

“Some of the disgruntled jounin tried to say you were a ringer.” Kakashi said idly, viciously satisfied that the Kazekage himself had shut talk of disqualifying his student down. “But since the _only_ requirement for the Chuunin Exams is that the participant be a legitimate genin, they didn’t have a leg to stand on for having you taken out of the exam. It’s none of their business, after all, if Hokage-sama wanted you to promote via testing your skills instead of a single assisted kill no matter how high profile.”

“Some of this came from my Chuunin Exam registration.” Toshiko noted, blinking at the rather complete assessment of her status - at least as much was publicly known or on record.

“Yep.” Kakashi let out a little whistle as he took down the security seal on their room and ushered her inside. “Godaime is going to have _words_ about that, but it’s not as bad as it _could_ be and the leak based on what they don’t know is in Suna so it’s ultimately the Kazekage’s headache and not ours.” 

**Name:** Ono Toshiko

 **Age:** 13

 **Date of Birth:** 1 May

 **Home Village:** Konohagakure

 **Village Rank:** Genin

 **Biography:** Apprentice of Hatake Kakashi, killed Hidan of Yugakure with assist from Hatake. Orange-copper hair, blue eyes, pale skin, short. Approach with caution while alone.

 **Target Data:** 50 completed missions, no complaints or incompletes on record

  * **Ninjutsu:** 3
  * **Taijutsu:** 3
  * **Genjutsu:** 3
  * **Intelligence:** 5
  * **Strength:** 3
  * **Speed:** 3.5
  * **Stamina:** 3
  * **Hand Seals:** 3
  * **Total Shinobi Classification Score:** 26.5



**Rank** : B-Class Threat

 **Status:** Active

 **Alliances:** Hatake Clan

 **Affiliations:** Ono Nobu (uncle); Hatake Kakashi (master)

**_Other Known Information_ **

**Known Chakra Abilities:** Yin Release, genjutsu

 **Weapons:** Bow, ninja wire, kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, sealing tags

 **Signature Jutsu:** Unknown

 **Special Abilities:** Tracking, trapping, sealing, archery [suspected hunter-nin in training], Snow Leopard summons

**_Bounty Information_ **

**Reward:** 50,000 ryo, Alive; 10,000 ryo Dead

“Huh,” Toshiko smirked as she took in the bounty information in particular. “Think Kumo is going to have the same willingness to try and interrogate me after I got done kicking their genin around the sand fields?”

“Probably not.” Kakashi snickered. “A’s a proud shinobi - and a total _asshole._ He won’t want you alive, dead will be perfectly fine with him.”

Toshiko shrugged. There were worse things. Taking down Hidan hadn’t been in her plans, but making the bingo books as a teenaged genin wasn’t exactly a _problem_ for her goal of making herself terrifying to her enemies and attractive to her, er, _goals._

…

Together with Yua, Toshiko spent the next two days resting in the inn with Kakashi wandering back and forth from the inn to the conference room to keep an eye on the remaining genin still struggling their way through the sand fields.

Well, those who hadn’t been taken out for their own safety by the proctors anyway, or been killed by either the hostile environment that included poisonous snakes, spiders, and scorpions or the general environment. Despite expectations otherwise, the desert proved to be far more lethal than the other genin, as while one genin from Iwa died after a run-in with the hostile Ame team, a half-dozen more died from the wildlife or sunstroke before medical attention could get to them. That if there was a living and conscious teammate it was up to _them_ to determine when the team couldn’t continue and not the proctors ended up being the main reason for the sunstroke deaths.

Pride, to Toshiko’s disgust, killed more genin at the Suna hosted exams than anything else.

The teams that had made it prior to the end of the fifth day gathered at the arena they’d been pointed to, a ringing _gong_ sounding the moment the sun finished slipping beneath the horizon signalling the end of the second round of the chuunin exams.

A new proctor _shuushin’d_ into the center of the arena a moment later and a scoreboard lit up with names already filled in for the - she frowned, confused a moment - _nine?_ Teams that had been given a pass through to the next round. The proctor who she _thought_ might be Baki based on Kakashi-sensei’s descriptions, explained a moment later.

“Eight teams, plus one with the Suna token.” Baki answered the unspoken - or spoken, some of the other genin were _loud -_ question. “Leaves us with twenty eight remaining competitors. Too many for the final tournament in one month from today, therefore an elimination round begins _now.”_

Toshiko was rather entertained by the fact that the applications varied but the template was the same between chuunin exams, but she supposed it prevented one village from trying to fuck over - or expose to danger above and beyond that agreed to by the kages - the genin from their competitors.

“The rules of the elimination round are as follows,” Baki continued. “Five minute rounds, winner decided either by knock-out or one genin being unable to continue. In the case of both still standing at the end of the round, the proctor decides the winner. No arguing and no whining, the match ends when I call time or when I call one competitor unable to continue.”

With that, Baki turned and nodded at who Toshiko was assuming was the controller for the scoreboard, and the names flipped to show two brackets: one for the current fight and one for the upcoming pair.

As her name wasn’t lined up in either bracket, Toshiko settled in to wait and prepare for possible future matches as she watched the ones that came before her.

After all: _any_ of them could be her competitors in future rounds, and with only Haku being a name she recognized besides the kids from Konoha, she needed the knowledge of how they fought.

Three matches in and she had Kakashi-sensei leaning on the railing next to her, watching one of the competitors from the surviving Kumo team at her side.

“She’s good.” The jounin said of the tall blonde who fell in the blonde and pale side of Kumo-nin that tended either towards blonde and pale or blonde and dark with the random redhead thrown in every now and again. “Fights smart.”

“Her teammate was better.” Toshiko countered, referring to the fight immediately prior between one _Omoi_ and a Suna-nin that got the _snot_ kicked out of him by the other genin’s Raiton affinity being channeled through his katana. “Both in kenjutsu and control.”

“Mmm.” Kakashi nodded, giving her that one as the other Konoha nin around them took notes as both Kumo nin were set to continue with the girl _Samui_ finishing her round against an Iwa genin. The general belief between the others from their home being that if anyone knew Raiton use, it was the two of them, despite no one actually _knowing_ what elemental release Toshiko had an affinity for. “Cooler head, though.”

Toshiko nodded, conceding the point on one blonde over the other as a pair of Suna nin stepped into the ring against each other: Wind v. Puppetry.

“Wow, this is underwhelming.” Toshiko wrinkled her nose as the others huffs laughs or shook their heads. Kakashi having taken out Sasori of the Red Sand being the newest bit of infamy to his name, her opinion after seeing the _master_ of his art at work didn’t quite count when it came to puppeteers anymore.

“Don’t be a brat.” Kakashi, well didn’t _warn_ her, more reminded that despite being well-insulated by their comrades, eavesdroppers were always a risk and they didn’t want to start problems with Suna already aggravated by the “disappearance and/or destruction” of Sasori’s arsenal of puppets.

A few of which, as it turned out, might’ve belonged to Suna’s puppet corps as a whole and weren’t his personal property.

Whoops.

Her bad.

“You’re up next.” Kakashi told her, glancing at the _next match_ bracket after the names flipped with the Puppeteer winning out over the Wind/fan user. “Let’s go.”

“Yes, sensei.” Toshiko agreed easily with a smirk at the name under her own.

Karui _of Kumogakure_ , why if Toshiko didn’t know better she’d think it was her birthday…

“You’re not going to follow the plan, are you, Toshi-chan?” Kakashi asked with resignation as he walked her down to the arena floor.

“Nope.” She said perkily. “Not in the slightest.”

“Try not to kill her.” Was all he asked with a sigh now that keeping to the same hunter/tracker set of skill had been blown out of the water with pitting his cute little monster against a _Kumo_ genin. “Things are tense enough with Kumo over your abilities and hunting their teams.”

“I’ll do my best.” Toshiko promised, and actually meant it given that trained kunoichi or not, her opponent was a _kid_ and not the Sandaime Raikage.

Handing over her scroll with her bow and quiver, she gestured for Yua to stay back as she took weapon after weapon out of scrolls and put them in place before taking her special bo staff Kakashi-sensei ordered for her and striding out with her face and hair uncovered into the arena sands.

“It’s the Konoha bitch.” Karui laughed derisively, face and form _brimming_ with rage after hearing from her sensei how this little _thing_ had hunted down her comrades and systematically taken them out of the exams, including giving a few of them serious injuries in the process. “Did you say goodbye to your filthy _dog_ sensei, Konoha bitch?”

“The only bitch here, is the _Kumo whore_ in front of me.” Toshiko snapped back, sneering and coldly furious. “Where’s your _faithless honorless cunt_ of a Sandaime, Kumo whore? Still hiding in his mountains after he _disgraced himself, cloud whore?”_

Burying his face in his hands in the audience, Kakashi swore up a quiet storm as Ensui patted him sympathetically on the back.

Seriously, of _all the matchups_ they gave Toshi-chan the hot-headed Kumo kunoichi.

Looking back up as Baki prepared to start the match, Toshiko with her bo at the ready and Karui with her katana bared, Kakashi caught the confusion on the others around him regarding Toshiko acting - to them - distinctly out of character.

“Her mother was killed during the Hyuuga Affair.” He told them quietly. It wasn’t a secret after all, just not something now that it was years ago that many connected to his apprentice anymore. “Toshi-chan has a…” He winced as Toshiko met the charge of the Kumo kunoichi head on and landed the first blow with a spinning kick out from the block of her bo against the kunoichi’s katana to Karui’s back that with Toshiko’s deceptive strength sent the other girl flying before she regained her footing. “Grudge.”

“Ahh…” The others nodded, sense finally made of Toshiko’s targeting the Kumogakure teams.

Like the Kumo kunoichi who had bit off _seriously_ more than she could chew by baiting Toshiko when the girl was already planning for blood.

Karui’s teammates and sensei yelled encouragements from the audience but it didn’t matter as less than half the match time had expired before it became clear that one-on-one against Kakashi’s apprentice, the girl was outmatched and Toshiko was _toying_ with her, landing blow after blow but always everywhere _but_ her head to keep from knocking her out and taking the automatic win.

At minute three Toshiko stripped the katana from the redhead and sent it flying then whipped around and _slammed_ the length of her bo into Karui’s ribs and chest, the other girl heaving forward and gasping for air.

“Where’s your yapping now, Kumo bitch?” Toshiko asked idly as she flipped back and away in a showy maneuver _designed_ to be infuriating. “Hmm?” She twirled her bo as Karui climbed to her feet and wiped away the blood she’d coughed up.

Launching forward, Karui went into a series of hand seals attempting ninjutsu when kenjutsu had failed her against the _monster_ that Konoha had masquerading as a genin.

Toshiko dodged and spun out of the way of the taijutsu, then held out her bo and _smiled_ as the Raiton jutsu hit it and was _sucked in_ to the chakra conductive staff instead of impacting her or forcing her to drop her staff.

Spinning back, she knocked the feet out from under Karui with a lunge and a sweep of her legs, then _jabbed_ the staff forward into the belly of the Kumo girl and releasing the jutsu the staff had collected into its original caster then stepped forward and onto the girl’s neck, pinning her down but not crushing her windpipe underfoot.

“My _dog sensei,_ ” Toshiko said dry as the land surrounding them. “Is _Hatake Kakashi_. You’re going to have to grow up little girl and try and engage with _reality_ , if you think you can take _his_ apprentice with kenjutsu and raiton.”

Stepping back and off the girl who rolled as soon as she was free, Toshiko rolled her eyes and lashed out with a steel-toed boot, slamming a kick into the back of her skull and officially ending the match by knockout then turned and strolled away as if she didn’t have a care in the world for the enemy she just made.

…

That night, Toshiko studied the brackets for the third round of the exams, the official tournament.

“Surprise surprise after your show earlier.” Kakashi commented as he leaned over her shoulder at the desk in their shared room. “They have you up against Omoi from Kumo when you both make it the semi-finals.”

Also known as the stronger of the remaining two Kumo genin by Toshiko’s estimation.

The other would be going up against Haku on the other half of the bracket, set like Toshiko’s for the semi-finals.

Each genin would have three rounds if they kept winning before the final match between the top two of the remaining dozen genin, and based on how they were setup, Toshiko would end up fighting genin from Sand, someone from Iwa, most likely Omoi from Kumo, and then Haku of Kiri in the finale barring her suddenly losing her abilities or her mind and not making it to the final and the same for Haku.

“Yuki from Kiri is the biggest problem.” She said with a sigh. “They have a bloodline, one I don’t know I can beat depending on how good they are with it.”

“And Zabuza is their jounin sensei.” Kakashi added with a soft snort over letting the Demon of the Bloody Mist take on impressionable genin for training. It was only slightly more horrifying than the fact that Konoha trusted _Kakashi_ with kids. “So barring the grudge match against the Kumo boy, the finale will likely be an actual challenge for you, kiddo.”

“I’m pretty sure they’re like me.” Toshiko shrugged. “Too skilled for an actual genin but with the political situation in Kiri they probably didn’t have the time to futz around with worrying about promotion. Now the Mizukage is using them to make a point.”

“There’s worse ways at his disposal.” Kakashi shrugged that off, though whether he was talking about Shikaku or the Yondaime Mizukage was up for debate. All part of being a shinobi in the end. “Yuki is…” Kakashi mulled over what he’d seen of the lithe shinobi. “Precise.” He decided. “Speed and unpredictability will be your friends, so that’s what we’ll focus on along with your ninjutsu. You haven’t used it yet but you’re going to _have_ to now that the others are aware of your other skills, if only in part when it comes to taijutsu and bukijutsu.”

“Yes, sensei.”

…

“Do I want to know _why_ I’ve been fielding irate messages from the Raikage, Kakashi?” Shikaku asked once the song-and-dance over welcoming the Hokage to Suna was over and he’d been shown to his rooms in the inn the Kazekage had turned over to the Konoha contingent. “Or why our soon-to-be-chuunin Ono-chan has earned herself a _name?”_

The page in the bingo book was a foregone conclusion as soon as she helped with two S-Class bounties, Shikaku already mourning her total anonymity before it was officially gone.

Though he supposed if that was what they were _really_ going to use her for, they should’ve allowed Nobu to apprentice her in the first place instead of one of the most infamous ninja in the elemental nations with a bingo book entry himself that was several pages long detailing his various publicly-known exploits.

Well, hindsight and all that.

Troublesome.

“It’s not a secret that Toshi-chan doesn’t like Kumogakure.” Kakashi tilted his head slightly to the side in curiosity. “What are they calling my kawaii little apprentice?”

And for the love of the damn _Sage_ it better not be filth even approaching what that brat from Kumo spat at her or he’d join his Toshi-chan in _beating_ manners into the fuckers.

Via Chidori.

To the _face._

“The Huntress.” Shikaku let his mouth tug up into a smirk. “She obeyed my instructions quite well, wouldn’t you say?”

Kakashi shared in the dark look, nodding firmly. “Dozens of targets taken down during the second round, several knocked out with minor genjutsu in the first, and a _nasty_ skull fracture and traumatic brain injury for her initial elimination round after the second. By the time she’s done, our _Huntress_ will be a figure that will _stick_ in the minds of her generation - both comrades, allies, and enemies alike.”

“Excellent.” Shikaku rolled his head on his neck, already feeling the creeping tension and he’d only been in Suna for an hour. “Still planning on dusting off Team 7?”

“If I can keep Toshi-chan instead of having to replace her.” Kakashi shrugged in lazy agreement. 

As her apprenticeship master, _keeping_ her wasn’t the question so much as how many ways the Godaime wanted him to spread his attention. And what he’d seen from spying on the upcoming class of genin at the Academy when Toshi-chan was working with Nobu on her family skills, he didn’t have high hopes for the new kunoichis to come. There was _some_ potential there, he didn’t believe otherwise, it was just how _hard_ the unlucky bastards in question were going to have to dig to unearth it was the question.

And to be frank: Kakashi just didn’t have the patience for that kind of bullshit.

Give him a semi-reasonable genin, not even one as intelligent or mature as Toshiko, and he’d work to polish up what was there, but asking him to be a glorified babysitter for however long it took the kids to figure out that being a shinobi wasn’t a game or glory but blood, tears, secrets, and pain was just asking for trouble.

Naruto could be a knucklehead from what he’d seen, but the kid knew the dark side of the world better than almost anyone else his age with the exception going to the handful of kids who’d survived Root.

For the third...he wasn’t sure but figured Shikaku would look at Toshiko and Naruto and figure out a third who’d slot in there and help balance them out into whatever kind of team Shikaku needed most in the field as Hokage.

“It would give her leadership and teamwork experience before she joins ANBU.” Shikaku agreed pragmatically. “If it weren’t for the Hyuuga twins setting the precedent for siblings on one team there might be trouble over it but they aren’t _actually_ related. The new two will just have to pick up a third for their own chuunin exams like we’ve done before.”

Done for Minato’s team seven, but Kakashi hadn’t aggravated the shit out of him lately so there was no reason to take a dig at that particular seeping wound.

Kakashi nodded, then settled in to update his kage on everything he’d picked up on or observed over the last five weeks he’d been in Suna, Shikaku’s “guards” of a pair of ANBU Kakashi knew better than anyone else - he’d trained Crow and Raven after all, and that one of them was going to replace Shikaku in time was an open secret among the clan heads, even Kakashi who hardly ever acknowledge that that was what he was - settling in on either side of their mentors, past and present, to listen and learn.

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For reference, Shisui is Raven and Itachi is Crow, a nod to both their kawarimi habits and their summons.


	11. Chapter 11

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Ten: Frostfire**

Toshiko thought it was interesting watching the kages, leaders, or their representatives arrange themselves in the Kazekage’s box overlooking the arena the morning of the first day of the tournament.

Nagato wasn’t present from Amegakure - for obvious reasons - and neither was who she thought was Yagura from Kiri given that it hadn’t been _that_ long since word reached Konoha that the civil war was over and tensions were starting to simmer down in the Land of Water.

Instead, Ame had sent a figurehead that she didn’t recognize, while Kiri had sent Terumi Mei who _wasn’t_ wearing a kage’s ugly hat which helped confirm for her that Yagura _was_ the Mizukage and in control of himself otherwise she wouldn’t be there representing him based on the background she remembered regarding the two.

Otherwise it was a little mini-kage-summit with A, Onoki, Rasa, and Shikaku representing their respective villages as only Ame for the minor countries still had even one chuunin hopeful remaining.

The Wind Daimyo was seated next to Rasa, while someone with a functioning brain had put Shikaku on the Daimyo’s other side and well away from either A or Onoki, the latter of which was rumored to hate the latest Ino-Shika-Cho incarnation with the fury of a thousand suns given how badly they plus Namikaze Minato and Uchiha Fugaku kicked Iwa ass during the Third Shinobi War.

Once the audience and dignitaries were seated, Rasa gave a little speech about giving honor to their villages with their performances and the duties of a shinobi, then the two brackets were divided on opposite sides of a stone wall that a pair of Suna-nin on opposite sides of the arena raised. From the audience and especially the dignitary box they’d be able to see the fights on both sides, but for the competitors it was more limiting. Which was smart, keeping the leaders of the left bracket from watching the leaders of the right side and limiting the knowledge base of whoever ended up fighting in the finale _in theory._

In reality as there was nothing keeping them from moving around the arena between matches, as long as they didn’t dawdle and miss their cues for their fights, Toshiko should still be able to watch Haku’s fights and see how far along the Ice Release user was in his training and powers.

She’d gotten a _glimmer_ from the elimination round, and Kakashi-sensei was going to be focusing on Haku’s fights to help alter their game plan for facing him in the final, but she _really_ wanted to compare his current level against what little she remembered about him other than being Zabuza’s apprentice, Ice Release, and skilled with senbon.

What was _frustrating_ in particular was whether by accident or design Toshiko and Haku were in the exact _same_ position in their brackets so to actually _see_ Haku fight it relied on her finishing off her opponents quickly and Haku taking more time.

And given that these matches didn’t have a time limit like the prior ones from the elimination round, that was _possible_ but not necessarily probable.

Still, Toshiko’s orders hadn’t changed from the Hokage, and with her entry into the bingo books there really was no reason to fly under the radar any longer.

If she couldn’t be a silent shadow, she might as well be a warning.

Using her touch-transfer sealing ability would put her there faster than anything else, but as long as there wasn’t a known user of that particular ability - along with the extremely limited fuuinjutsu users to begin with after the destruction of Uzushiogakure - then there was no reason for the likes of, say, Obito or Nagato to guard _against_ it.

Not that she was planning on being within touching distance of either of them _ever_ \- that was the sort of bullshit that was in a kage or jinchuuriki’s wheelhouse not a hunter-nin’s - but better safe than sorry.

And since even Kakashi-sensei didn’t know that she could do that, let alone continued to train it at least once a week with various seals, he’d ensured she had _other_ possible trump cards for the chuunin exams to work with.

Along with the just general wish of wanting her to live long enough to retire instead of, you know, die horribly like most of the people he’s ever let himself care about with few exceptions.

The dozen hopefuls remaining were made up of Toshiko and two of Ensui-sensei’s genin from Konoha, Haku from Kiri, Omoi and Samui from Kumo, one genin from Ame, two from Iwa, and three from Suna. She didn’t think other than throwing her against Omoi that there was any overt finagling going on with the matches, but that the two Iwa-nin had to face off against each other _might_ argue otherwise. Given that as far as historical enemies go, Suna and Iwa were about as fraught as Konoha and Kumo, and a case could definitely be made.

Toshiko’s Suna-nin was a teenage boy maybe a year older than her who used one of the fairly typical large fans favored by Wind-natured Suna shinobi.

Which, just balanced against Konoha-nin and their tendency for Fire, was _never_ going to go in his favor and she didn’t see any point in wasting time or chakra pretending otherwise.

One wind attack was repelled and _consumed_ by a _Katon: Great Fireball,_ and the Suna boy found himself more than a _little_ crispy around the edges with third-degree burns.

If the pain hadn’t knocked him out, Toshiko would’ve done it herself because she hadn’t _meant_ her Katon to injure him so significantly. The only explanation she had when she found herself reviewing the fight as she watched Haku dance around his own opponent before knocking them out via senbon, was that the fuuton jutsu the Suna-nin used had been overpowered itself and in turn over-amplified her katon beyond what she’d expected. Lesson learned when she wasn’t the one controlling fuuton for katon amps herself.

Later that day she had her second match after the first six were all completed and the new brackets were filled in, facing the tougher of the Iwa shinobi whose match she’d paid attention to knowing that she’d be fighting the winner.

Another guy, this one large and muscular who used brute strength taijutsu and Earth release/doton jutsu to overpower his smaller comrade who’d favored more precise applications of chakra and tactics.

There _was_ something to be said for blunt-force trauma to the head fucking up a shinobi’s ability to fight, but this guy wasn’t Senju Tsunade and Toshiko wasn’t a mountain in need of leveling.

She sighed, eyeing him up and semi-regretting the decision she’d made to hold back on using Yua in her tournament fights unless she thought she _really_ needed her help to keep from being just slaughtered by Haku in the final.

_Troublesome._

…

“In my defense.” Kakashi stated blandly when he _felt_ the judgement wafting off of Itachi from behind his Crow mask over Toshiko’s unofficial motto of _there’s no kill like overkill_ as they picked up whispers of the Suna-nin she’d crisped had to be taken to the hospital’s burn ward. “You know as well as I do that I got her this way.”

“Not the Raiton usage.” Itachi noted drily, arching a brow behind his concealing mask. “I think I would remember if she originally had that in her arsenal.”

Given that Toshiko had _quite literally_ just slapped her Iwa opponent down with _Lightning Palm_ to his chest, and rumor had it flat-out ignored raiton used against her during the original elimination matches, it was a fair statement to say that if Toshiko-san didn’t have raiton during her skill assessment she’d certainly picked it up in the years since.

“Yeah, she’s Earth natured.” Kakashi admitted easily enough since they were under a privacy seal while Itachi collected information for Shikaku - or maybe just satisfied his own curiosity, with Uchiha it could be hard to tell. “I made sure she has attacks in the other affinities that she can use consistently.” Even if for Water there was only the _one_ she managed to make work after a _lot_ of effort before they both agreed that some goals were best left for leisure days and not beating their heads against during training when other skills still needed honed. “The thing about my cute little monster is that it’s not _what_ she has in the arsenal that’s the catch, it’s how well she applies it.”

Itachi nodded slowly, eyes narrowed as the young teen’s last fight of the day wrapped up.

The Iwa-nin had survived the Lightning Palm and managed to regain his feet, but it had clearly scrambled his head or chakra control at least a little as Toshiko had gone to work with her strength, speed, and bo staff to finish putting him down a few minutes later.

“Looks like Shisui was right, he’ll be impossible to live with.” Itachi sighed, put upon even as the slightest of smiles curved up the corners of his mouth.

“Hmm?”

“Years ago after helping with her assessment, he was asked to describe her in two words to his Clan Matriarch.” Ever careful even under his mask and the privacy seals, Itachi elegantly side-stepped information that would give away his identity. “They were, and I quote, _raw potential._ After this,” he waved a hand at the arena. “He’s going to be smug for ages over it.”

“Maa.” Kakashi rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why, it’s not like he was the first or last to see it. But Shisui will be Shisui, I suppose.”

“Hn.”

…

Toshiko studied the long katana strapped to her latest opponent’s back.

Day two of the tournament started with her semi-final match against the remaining male Kumo genin while Haku would face off against the kunoichi afterwards.

He was _good_ with that blade from what she’d seen, and already was preferable to his teammate by not running his mouth.

Good enough that she didn’t want to get into a close-quarters fight with him...unless she could change the parameters a little. Hmm. And it wasn’t like she didn’t have the chakra for it, for all that it wasn’t part of the _plan_ to show it off…

Even two years younger than the Haku who gave (in a story she once knew) Team 7’s genin so much trouble, _this_ Haku was formidable. Not unlike Toshiko herself. The both of them chosen to come to Suna for likely the same reason: making a statement.

Getting into a ninjutsu battle with _Haku_ was about the last thing she wanted, which given that she didn’t want to be in a weapons battle with Omoi on his terms either, gave her an _idea_ on how to keep the first from exhausting her into a poor showing against the second.

Rolling her neck on her shoulders, Toshiko shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet and then…

_Begin!_

She leapt back with a chakra-enhanced _push_ into the jump, landing well outside of Omoi’s strike range and already weaving hand seals.

 _4, 5, 6, and 7!_ “ _Doton: Stone Pillar Dance!”_

Slamming her hands and the shaped chakra onto the ground, with a reverberation that could almost be _felt_ , she pushed back up into the air, twisting into a spin and then landing like a cat in a crouch on one of the dozens of varying-sized pillars that had veritably _consumed_ the clear sand floor of the area - pillars so close together that if Omoi wanted to use that sword of his, he’d have to take the fight to the _tops_ of them and not remain on the steady ground.

Reaching back, Toshiko pulled her bo from its place and held it near the center as Omoi joined her up on the new playing field - one that as a _Konoha_ shinobi used to fighting and tracking and hunting through the trees, starkly favored _her_ \- then twisted with a smile as Omoi firmed his jaw and darted forward leaping across the tops of the pillars.

Identical batons in hand, she tilted her head and then leapt _down_ sticking to the side of a pillar with a flex of chakra, then back _up_ as Omoi overshot her former position, raising both batons into a parallel strike that landed with a ringing _crack_ against his shoulder.

Gasping, Omoi twisted as she turned away from the strike and returned to the sand floor.

“Well?” She arched a brow as he sheathed his katana, right arm hanging limply at his side, spinning one of her batons in hand. “Shall we?”

A bared kunai was her answer, and they came back together in a _crash_ and whirl of blows blocked and parried as Omoi fought with his raiton coating his knife and Toshiko battered him with her batons before disengaging with a backwards leap onto one of the lower pillars, batons tucked under her arms and hands flashing into a familiar - in Konoha - tiger seal even as Omoi turned to hide behind another pillar.

“ _Katon: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!”_

To give credit where it was due, if she’d been using the Great Fireball that she’d shown the day before, hiding behind a pillar _was_ a good idea.

But the fire dragon _wasn’t_ the great fireball, and it split into three columns of flame to attack the target from both the front and the sides, only the first of which was blocked by her stone pillar.

_“Raiton: Lightning Cloak!”_

Toshiko jumped down before she could lose the advantage, darting forward while Omoi was still shaken, singed, and smoking from taking a pair of flame columns head-on and only partially buffered by his raiton defense, his lower legs in particular looking bad as they’d been caught as he jumped up to avoid the worst of the blast.

Weaving her hand seals as she went, the moment she hit ground again they were slapping once more onto the earth in one of her favorite techniques:

_“Doton: Smothering Cocoon!”_

Injured and weak - but having made Toshiko actually _work for it_ \- Omoi couldn’t move fast enough to avoid the earth that pulled up and around him in a great _crash_ , holding him there for long moments as Toshiko counted off in her head, then released the jutsu to reveal an unconscious Kumo-nin.

“Winner: Ono Toshiko, Konoha!” Baki shouted at the sight of the limp form, Toshiko releasing the stone pillars on the heels of his announcement.

Up in the kage box, Shikaku let a small smile cross his face along with a singular thought: _good girl._

…

Haku’s round against the Kumo kunoichi was more of a spar and skills contest than his prior bouts, a good testament to the girl’s strategic abilities as she used her tanto to smack down most of Haku’s senbon from the air.

Both were more patient than Toshiko as well, less in the mood to _just get on with it._

“That flame dragon was too much, Toshi-chan.” Kakashi-sensei scolded her lightly even as he leaned over her shoulder and eyed what she was up to with her inks and chakra paper. “On top of the constant drain from the stone dance?” He clucked his tongue, multitasking his scolding even as he was _intrigued_ by the plan he _thinks_ he’s seeing form up in Toshi-chan’s stark sealing style that favored simplicity over flashes and bangs. “Risky risky.”

“I’m not going to beat _him,_ ” she jerked her chin towards where Haku had apparently gotten bored of the long game and now was spinning frost and ice around the Kumo girl like a dancer. “In a ninjutsu battle anyway. I have a plan, sensei, promise.”

“If you say so, Toshi-chan.” Kakashi shook his head. “Hokage-sama is pleased with you, either way.”

“Well, Yuki-san and I have effectively ruined the days of three kage, especially the Raikage.” Toshiko snorted softly as she set down her calligraphy brush and used a low-powered wind jutsu to dry her new seals, then bent and removed the weighted bandages hidden beneath her concealing uniform. Against Haku, she was going to need the extra speed. Gai-sensei would likely be _ecstatic_ to know that she continued following his training guide - as far as her taijutsu, strength, and speed went anyway - weeks after she’d been _rescued_ by the sadistic asshole of a sensei who’d inflicted her on Gai’s _odd_ team to begin with. Or maybe it was the other way around. With Kakashi it could’ve been either or both. “If _that_ doesn’t please the two left, nothing will.”

“Mmm.” Kakashi really couldn’t argue with that particular point of logic. Nor did he particularly want to try, given that ruining the days of three kage sounded like _just_ the sort of thing a jounin-sensei should be proud of their student for.

Well, as long as their _own_ kage wasn’t one of the three.

That would be bad and likely frowned upon.

…

Toshiko studied Haku carefully as she walked down for the final match of the Chuunin Exams.

The beautiful boy was wearing his hunter-nin uniform, minus the mask, and had his hair wrapped up and concealed under a white cloth bun holder that rather than plain had a blue symbol embroidered on it that at a guess was the Yuki Clan sigil.

Younger than the Haku from a story, softer in the face with a roundness that spoke of both not being fully physically mature as well as regular meals.

Haku was studying her in turn, and Toshiko could only imagine what she looked like to a foreign shinobi, especially one who’d been watching her fight for days in one way or another since the beginning of the exams.

Toshiko wasn’t an idiot. She knew she didn’t _look_ like much. Short, plainly dressed and covered-up, hair braided back tight to her head and favoring a weapon thus far in the matches that was longer in her bo than she was tall. But Toshiko’s underwhelming appearance was as much a deception as Haku’s delicate looks - and both of them were clearly skilled liars.

“I have no quarrel with you, Yuki-san.” Toshiko told him honestly. “But I recognize your abilities. Any harm given isn’t meant with malice, but I have my orders and I am a loyal shinobi of the Hidden Leaf.”

Haku studied the strong kunoichi before him with interest as she honored him - as she’d yet to do any of her opponents - with the Seal of Confrontation used in traditional shinobi sparring. She was a strange one who carried a darkness and a grudge, that much had been made clear. Her overture of respect was distinctly out of character from what he’d seen of her thus far, but one that he suspected was sincerely meant.

More, as a shinobi in a similar position to her own, he... _appreciated_ her words.

“A sentiment I share, Ono-san.” Haku nodded gently, returning the Seal, and a moment later the jounin proctor called for the match to _Begin!_

To Haku’s genuine shock, as soon as the jounin’s signal was given, Toshiko was _gone_ sprinting and body-flickering all around the arena in a strange, erratic pattern that had the Ice user boggled for a long moment and had Kakashi pushing up his headband to watch her with the Sharingan.

 _Some_ grumbling from the Hokage’s avian ANBU shadows was to be had at that, though only those truly _in the know_ regarding their abilities knew it was because they were restricted by secrecy requirements from doing the same.

Haku started catching on though, especially when Toshiko sped straight towards him, dodging his flying senbon all the way until she was _exactly_ in the center of the arena.

Seeing that she was lunging to the ground with one hand set to slam into it, Haku - having learned from her prior matches - copied one of her frequent counters, leaping up and away out of range of whatever _Doton_ jutsu she’d prepared, his own hands flashing through seals as her palm slapped the ground.

Only instead of the expected Earth-natured attack, she bellowed out _“Fuuin!”_ and the arena lit with an array of lights: a veritable spider web of seal-lines from the seal she’d slapped into the center of the arena to the others she’d planted in the guise of her erratic dodges of Haku’s senbon.

Then she slowly stood, even as Haku landed with a soft _thud_ staring at his hands in blatant confusion as his Hyouton refused to answer his command.

Not for long as he found himself pressed into defensive _taijutsu_ at a flurry of strikes from Toshiko’s bo staff.

“What did you _do?”_ He breathed out the question in shock, even as he traded blow after blow and block after block with the small kunoichi.

“Five-point chakra suppression seal.” Toshiko’s grin was bloody from a tight-fisted jab she’d been too slow to dodge or block. “I guess no one did their research on me during the break. My mom was a member of the Barrier Corps _and she taught me_ about sealing long before I was handed off to the Yondaime’s prized student _._ ”

Shikaku mentally winced as he thought wistfully at the potential security breach a teenager knowing the ins-and-outs of Konoha’s various security seals made, even if the keys to them changed regularly and on a random basis to prevent _issues._

But little Toshiko was rapidly becoming the biggest threat against Konoha shinobi getting _bright ideas_ about defecting, turning traitor, or mercenary as depending on their offense, _she’d_ be the one tracking them down - and after this, _no one_ with a functioning brain cell was going to want Ono-chan and her vicious creativity hunting them down.

A flash of a tanto and Toshiko’s bo went _flying_ , Toshiko giving Haku another wild grin even as she jumped high off the arena wall and went into a tumble in mid-air that had her retrieving her curved daggers from their sheaths.

Fingers tucked through their loops, she spun them flashily once, and then darted back in.

And somehow, to the experienced eyes in the audience _moving even faster_ with the tiger claw (or maybe leopard claw would be more appropriate given her summons animal) daggers spinning and flashing with near-deadly intent as Toshiko continued to force Haku into close quarters combat instead of allowing him his preferred distance.

Not that there was anything _wrong_ with ranged attacks, on the contrary Toshiko thought she’d proven over the course of the exam that she was rather fond of them herself.

It was what _Haku_ could do with ranged attacks that was the problem, so she went in close, she went in fast and relentless, and she absolutely _did not_ allow him to regain control of their match in any fashion.

A little _too_ relentless and wild as it turned out, as when Haku failed to block as she’d been expecting, her left hand dagger cut a long slash across Haku’s throat.

“Fuck!” She shouted, dropping her daggers before Haku could even realize what had _happened_ other than _cold sharp pain._ Her right hand came up immediately and closed over the wound, putting pressure on the blood vessels and keeping Haku from bleeding out in moments.

With her left hand, and a _Word_ , she tore down the chakra suppression seal, tearing through the network of lines like they were made of tissue instead of adamantine expressions of power and will, and had green-tinged healing jutsu pouring into the wound a moment later even as the proctor and official medics charged from the sides of the arena.

Toshiko knelt next to Haku’s crumpled form, eyes unfocused as she used _intent_ as much as anything to fix what she’d caused, at least enough to stabilize him until the medic could take over.

“There,” Toshiko lifted her hand and sank back, exhausted. “He needs more - and more precise - healing but he’ll live for now.”

“Winner,” Baki announced belatedly. “Ono Toshiko, Konoha.”

Kakashi was there at her side and helping her stand and wave to the cheering and/or jeering crowd before quickly ushering her over to be seen to by a medic of her own.

“Chakra exhaustion.” He bit out, grey eye narrowed on the iryo-nin. “She overdid it like an _idiot.”_

“I love you too, sensei.” Toshiko sighed even as she slumped in place, sitting on the bed inside the cool corridors of the area's interior spaces. “It was my fault, and I didn’t want to kill him because I got _too_ into our match.”

“Idiot.” Kakashi reiterated, even as Shikaku and his shadows joined them, Raven having collected Toshiko’s daggers, bo, and seals from the arena thanks to his speed. 

Which was a good call, as while the weapons could be replaced if they went “missing” if not easily, the seals were Toshiko’s personal sealing style and would give an enemy _far_ too much insight into how her form of sealing worked - and where its weaknesses were.

Shikaku studied his exhausted genin with dark eyes, then nodded once he saw that she wasn’t in any danger other than passing out to recover.

“There will be a banquet tonight celebrating our Champion.” He said, a smug smirk flickering over his face and then gone a moment later. “The successful Chuunin advancements will be announced there as well.”

“She’ll be fit to attend, Hokage-sama.” The medic reported as he finished siphoning chakra into the deadly little thing that apparently passed for a genin in Konoha. Bunch of crazy bastards those tree-huggers were. “Provided she rests in the meantime.”

Kakashi gave her a _look_ that was as good as a promise to go with his reply:

_“She will.”_

...

Needless to say, Toshiko _did_ rest rather than rattle her sensei’s cage more than she already had lately, however it should be noted that Toshiko’s idea of resting and the medic-nin’s idea of resting were _very_ different.

For instance, the medic-nin’s likely didn’t include sneaking out of her room at the inn.

Or _into_ one of the rooms that the Kiri shinobi were staying in a couple streets away.

But given his own habits, when Kakashi caught her sneaking back, he merely lifted his headband and studied her chakra levels with his sharingan then sighed and rolled both his eyes before scruffing her like a naughty kitten - or puppy since it was Kakashi - and plonking her back down on her bed to nap before she needed to get ready for the banquet.

…

Haku felt the kunoichi slip through the open window into his room and thought for a moment about raising the alarm.

He gave it a second, harder thought, when he cracked open his eyes and saw a mischievous, playful smile on her face - a smile that combined with her temper and her tracking abilities explained a _lot_ about why she had snow leopard summons when her master was infamous for his ninken - but in the end his curiosity and his own interpretation of her person enticed him to hold off.

While Zabuza-sama had been ranting - ever since they arrived in Suna and he caught sight of gravity-defying silver hair, in fact - about Hatake Kakashi and lately his little demon of an apprentice, part of those rants had been devoted to Konoha shinobi in general.

And from what Zabuza-sama had to say, which Terumi-san grudgingly agreed with, was that while a Konoha-nin would kill when they had to or were paid to, they weren’t _mindless_ killers.

They weren’t the sort, generally, that would slip into the room of a shinobi they’d _saved_ \- from another village or not - only to do them harm afterward.

As such, Haku felt safe enough - especially with Zabuza-sama nearby and likely already aware of his apprentice’s _visitor_ \- to merely watch her with a blank expression until Ono-san explained _what in the name of the Sage she was doing._

Her constant companion wasn’t on her heels, the snow leopard not exactly _discreet_ in a place like Suna, but that Ono-san had managed to slip her own handlers including her sensei and through the Kiri guards to Haku’s room had him interested nonetheless.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay.” Toshiko explained at the bland expression - but curious eyes - of Haku. “Pulling back isn’t my strong suit, I rarely spar with others of similar or lower skill, so…” She shrugged.

In fact, before she’d come to the Chuunin Exams, the only _real_ time she’d sparred someone with weapons who _didn’t_ handily outclass her was Gai’s genin team, and there she hadn’t used weapons except her bo against Tenten at the girl’s insistence.

She _creamed_ the girl who idolized the Slug Princess, especially since the girl tried to claim she was excellent with weapons but her “excellent” was loading scrolls with masses of weapons and then launching them all in a mass attack at her opponent.

 _Not_ a sound strategy, and Toshiko had made _that_ very clear.

Tenten-chan either hated her or idolized her now, Toshiko wasn’t quite _clear_ on where the girl actually stood regarding her spar with Toshiko, after which Gai-sensei had only allowed her to train taijutsu with his boys and use weapons only against himself when he wasn’t working and running her into the ground.

“You are a hunter.” Haku took her explanation - not an apology he noted, she didn’t do him the disservice of judging him unfit to spar and fight against her, they were _shinobi_ \- in the manner it was intended and gave her a soft smile in return. “Restricting chakra use was clever, that you exhausted yourself to save me speaks well for your nature and your sensei.”

“Well,” a smirk curved up the side of her mouth. “Against _you_ I knew better than to use ninjutsu. I try not to set myself up to fail if it can be avoided.”

“A sound strategy.” Haku agreed. “If not one that is always viable.”

“Those precious to me wouldn’t forgive me if I didn’t do all in my power to return to them.”

“Then we have much in common, Toshiko-chan.”

She grinned.

“That we do, Haku-kun. If I wrote to you, would you be allowed to receive my letters and reply?”

Haku hummed lightly, thinking. “So long as we say nothing of missions or sensitive information, I don’t see why not. The Yondaime, I believe, wishes to repair bridges that his predecessor destroyed.”

“Oi.” Zabuza stuck his head in the room from where he’d been monitoring things in the hall. “You’d best not be having _designs_ on my apprentice, Huntress girl.”

Toshiko wrinkled her nose at him. “I think Kakashi-sensei would have a heart attack if anyone even _suggested_ I might know what _designs_ are.” She commented dryly. “I think Haku-kun could be a _friend_ , Zabuza-san, not anything more.”

At least not for _her._

“That’s fine then.” He grunted lightly then jerked his head towards the window. “Might want to make tracks, the medics are coming back to check on Haku.” He grinned wickedly, all his teeth on display. Which honestly were _far_ too many for a human mouth. “And I saw that Copy-Nin bastard heading back to your inn a few minutes ago.”

Toshiko cursed lightly and _dove_ out the window, hustling back to the inn, Zabuza’s barking laughter and Haku’s light dancing giggles following her on the wind.

…

_Bingo Book Addendum, Entry: Ono Toshiko, Konoha_

**Rank:** Chuunin

 **Classification:** B-Rank Threat

 **Known Skills:** Fuuinjutsu, B-Rank Ninjutsu, Close Quarters Combat, Chakra Suppression via Seals

 **Nature Transformations Used:** Doton, Katon, Fuuton, Raiton

 **Bounty:** 0 Ryo Dead, 100,000 Alive

 **Capture Instructions:** Skilled fuuinjutsu user, capture _alive_ for interrogation and processing.


	12. Chapter 12

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Eleven: Seeing Through Masks**

Toshiko was _probably_ more entertained than was healthy by the fact that Kakashi all-but-sat on her with dire warnings of “training with Gai” as her punishment for sneaking out of her room.

Warnings that devolved into outright _promises_ once she came clean on just _where_ she went on her little escape caper.

“Haku-kun is _powerful.”_ She told him in her blunt, matter-of-fact manner. “When it comes to chakra and ninjutsu, _far_ more powerful than me. I’d like it if someone with his kekkei genkai, sensei, and potential did _not_ want to hunt me down and skin me for almost killing him.”

“You think that highly of him?” Kakashi lifted his brows in surprise. 

Generally speaking, Toshi-chan didn’t tend to think highly of _anyone_ with rare instances of respect. He knew she respected _him_ even if his personality exasperated her at times - which, hey, _quid pro quo_ little monster - and she’d been plain about respecting Shikaku as Hokage. Tenzo as Kakashi’s “other-and-better half” whenever they met over the last couple years had been given far more respect from day one than Kakashi had seen her give _anyone_ other than himself at first meeting, and on the rare instances where Kakashi was needed to take a mission she simply wasn’t equipped to handle, had been actually _pleased_ to take lessons in Doton or whatever skills Tenzo felt like helping her with at a given time.

Kakashi _thought_ she also respected most jounin as a matter of routine, but actually thinking _well_ of them was different and (and he was guessing) limited to Gai, and possibly the Uchihas she’s been around as few in number as they were, but otherwise it was Kakashi, Shikaku, Tenzo, her uncle and that was about it.

When it came to the rest of Konoha, she was...careful around those higher in rank or power than her, and at best _tolerant_ of those who weren’t, again with exceptions for those she actively liked which were almost as few in number as those she respected.

His kawaii little monster was a _prickly_ thing, and like her new summons anyone wanting to get close to her were as likely to be met with claws and fangs as they were with tolerance let alone purrs.

“I think,” Toshiko chose her words with care. “That there are a handful of shinobi from Kiri that I’d like to keep a country between them and me if things go down the toilet with their new friendlier overtures. Haku-kun isn’t on the _top_ of that list, but he’s definitely on it along with his shark-toothed sensei, and that Lava Release kunoichi who’s playing diplomat for her Yondaime.”

“Who else?” Kakashi asked partly out of plain curiosity and partly to see how closely Toshiko had been watching and listening to those around her and studying her Bingo Books.

“Yukishiro Ao with his stolen Byakugan.” She answered promptly as she checked the time and got up to start getting ready for the banquet. Which took _so much freaking time_ with all the layers to kimono even a kunoichi was supposed to don for formal events. “And their Yondaime, even if he didn’t have the Sanbi I’ve heard things about his fighting style that make him sound like a nightmare, plus whoever holds the Rokubi.”

She paused, then added: “Hoshigaki Kisame too, but he’s a missing-nin so I don’t think that counts.”

“Fair.” Kakashi decided, thinking on the list, as at least the jinchuuriki would give him pause before jumping into a fight with them as well, though he’d probably enjoy the shit out of one with Zabuza. “And no, in this case I’d say Hoshigaki doesn’t count for Kiri but staying well away from him is a sound strategy nonetheless.”

Off the top of his head, Kakashi couldn’t think of a single shinobi who _would_ be able to handle Kisame one-on-one between his infamously outlandish chakra reserves and kenjutsu yielding Samehada. Someone like Gai maybe who didn’t rely on chakra? Either way, it wasn’t a fight anyone with a functioning brain cell would wish for.

Toshiko nodded, that was her thought as well, then dug out her storage scroll with her hygiene products and the one with her formal clothes, Kakashi snickering a bit at the _face_ she made at the latter before taking off as he considered her appropriately occupied now that time was pressing to get ready for the political bullshit about to take place.

…

Kakashi waited with the rest of the Konoha entourage for the Hokage and his cute little apprentice just outside the entrance to the inn.

Then he just _stopped_ for a long moment as his _cute little apprentice_ stepped outside in the formal kunoichi attire expected of her.

“No.” He stated firmly, eye narrowed on her then on Yua who was pacing next to her partner, calm as could be. “I am _not_ ready for this, you’re only thirteen, go put your uniform back on, I can’t even…”

Shikaku laughed at his face, having seen the little troublemaker as she left her room and given her an approving once-over at the proof that she was taking this part of events as seriously as she had his instructions regarding her performance during the exam.

Then he’d promptly stepped behind her to watch Kakashi’s _face_ when he saw the kunoichi his - in his own words - _cute little_ apprentice was growing up to be.

He’d also - he’d bet good ryo - been the only one to spot his two shadows likewise _stopping_ for a heartbeat at the sight she made.

Granted, young Ono-chan would likely never be the elegant beauty that the Uchiha and Hyuuga clans were known for, but she was certainly pretty with striking coloring when she wasn’t covering up every stray patch of skin and smudged with dirt and blood from Kakashi’s training.

She was still a child in many ways, with several years left to mature into a woman, but after her performance in the exams and now her formal appearance it would be difficult to argue that she wasn’t a _young woman_ already.

At her sensei’s vehement denials, Toshiko merely rolled her eyes and forcibly took his arm as they all fell into position for the mini-procession to the banquet, including the two other Konoha genin who’d made it to the tournament but not into the finals and had remained in Suna when the others had gone home.

“Don’t worry, Kakashi-sensei.” Toshiko sighed. “Dressing up like this is a _pain_ , and time better spent training or doing almost _anything else._ ”

“Thank Kami.” Kakashi said fervently. “My heart was _not_ ready for all,” he waved his free hand at the tumble of curls and the creamy skin - which was actually _on show_ at her neck and collarbone and hands if not elsewhere - and the curves that weren’t hidden behind compression garments and a waist that he could easily span with his hands. “That. Or boys. I’m _really_ not ready for boys chasing you, Toshi-chan, you’re not allowed to grow up. Ever.”

“Boys my age are _boys.”_ She hid her eye roll and kept her tone bland. “Cracking voices and spots aren’t attractive, Kakashi-sensei. You’re safe in that regard. I don’t have time to date if I’m going to get Kumo to mark me _Flee on Sight_.”

“You do know she’s not _actually_ your daughter, right?” Ensui, Shikaku’s younger brother and sensei over the other two Konoha genin asked dryly.

“Oh Kami, Kakashi reproducing.” Raven muttered, but not quietly enough to avoid the senses of either Kakashi or his apprentice. “There’s a thought to give me nightmares.”

Though Shisui wouldn’t admit that he’d had to take a moment to fit the picture of midnight-to-pale blue kimono embroidered with copper flames matched to a tumble of copper curls to the relentless spitfire that was _little Toshiko-chan._

Who according to his sources (cough, Sasuke, cough) had quite the little crush-following among the boys younger than her for being _so cool, Shisui, and not a fangirl!_

As a grown man and shinobi, he tended to just not _notice_ the younger kunoichi until they hit jounin or turned sixteen...mainly because that was the best policy possible to avoid having rabidly irate older kunoichi chasing perving shinobi asses down with fire and pitchforks.

Toshiko-chan would be a formidable and lovely partner for any shinobi _one day._

For now, Shisui was perfectly happy blinking at the sight she made that was like a preview into who she _could_ become, and then tucking it back _far far away_ into the back of his mind.

Itachi, miserable bastard that he was with his arranged marriage that he kept putting off using literally _any_ excuse they could come up with between them, likely didn’t even notice _that_ much beyond the transition being startling after never having seen Toshiko-chan as anything other than a child, if a talented one.

Shikaku-sama, just for giving Itachi-kun the _best_ excuse ever to put off his marriage while he was shadowing the Hokage and being mentored as a possible kage candidate, had solidified Itachi’s loyalty to the Leaf and himself in particular to a degree that the Nara would likely not _believe._

Not that they’d _disliked_ him before, but, still.

 _Literally any excuse_ , if there was one thing in particular that created tension between Fugaku-sama and Itachi-kun it was that the former just would _not_ relent on the matter of Izumi who had _not_ gotten more tolerable with age.

At least as the head of the branch family, Shisui didn’t have to deal with all that bullshit, though there were still _expectations_ for him to handle. (Though he knew if he delayed too long, Fugaku-sama or the elders would attempt to step in anyway. But with Itachi being so problematic on the subject, if only in private, they had other things to worry about at the moment.)

Better than the near-total control it seemed Fugaku-sama wanted over his sons.

Even if Shisui would _never_ be thankful for why he was the branch head.

Shisui loved his cousin, would do anything for him, but this one thing Itachi couldn’t quite _understand_ even if he sympathized with his loss.

Some things, unfortunately, had to be _known_ to be truly understood.

And while it was inevitable one day, Shisui would _never_ wish that Itachi was made an orphan simply so his cousin could know his pain.

…

Toshiko felt herself wanting to zone out during the Kazekage’s speech that preceded the advancing chuunin being announced to the banquet.

She was pleased that both of the other Konoha genin had been approved for promotion despite not making it into the last day of the tournament, and held in the urge to glare when both of the Kumo-nin who _did_ make the semi-final matches were also approved to promote.

Altogether fifteen new chuunin were promoted from the over a hundred genin who had competed, with the last announced being Haku-kun and Toshiko herself.

Instead of their chuunin vests - or whatever the practice was in the corresponding hidden village - given that it was a banquet, they were presented with their official certificates of promotion which could easily disappear up a sleeve or tucked into a belt.

Speaking of Haku-kun, he was all dolled up and shiny, making heads turn of both genders, and more than one girl distinctly _put out_ that a boy could be so beautiful in a simple kimono with a snowflake design and long ebony hair cascading down well beyond his elbows to his slim hips.

“Enjoying yourself, Toshi-chan?” Kakashi stayed close to his apprentice, given that there were a _lot_ of hard feelings in the room regarding her performance during the exams, except for the _odd_ friendship or acquaintance or whatever it was she struck up with Zabuza’s minion.

Credit where it was due: it likely wasn’t a hard sell. Toshiko could be strikingly friendly and even _bubbly_ when she wanted to be - rare as those moments were - and the pair of them were in much the same situation though for vastly different reasons. Both advanced beyond their years, with skills and knowledge usual in mature jounin, and given to shinobi often considered one step down from _monstrous_ by both their own villages and their enemies.

It wasn’t so long ago, in the end, that Kakashi had been met with slurs regarding his father and then before he even managed to shake off Sakumo’s shadow with harsh whispers of _friend-killer_.

Disappearing into ANBU hadn’t helped the latter, even as it made him feared for genuine reasons instead of gossip, and there were times where Kakashi honestly thought the only reason he wasn’t still known more for things he _hadn’t_ intentionally done instead of those he had was because of Toshiko and how he was with her softening many a rock-headed idiot towards him.

Whether by accident or design, it was nearly impossible for anyone to see Kakashi anymore without little Toshi-chan somewhere around, and that he’d kept _her_ alive for more than two years as his apprentice had all-but-banished his most hated epithet.

In keeping with her nearly as allergic to politics as her sensei personality, Toshi-chan merely rolled her eyes at his question and shoved another dumpling into her mouth, chewing moodily over Shikaku not yet giving them leave to, well, _leave._

Kakashi merely patted her on the head, _barely_ missing a swipe from one dainty (but heavily calloused) hand, all the while the dignified Yua snorted and pretended she didn’t know either of them.

…

“They’re Uchiha, aren’t they?” Toshiko asked on the first day of the trip back to Konoha as part of the Hokage’s entourage. It would take them twice as long to return to Konoha as it did Suna, but apparently that was all part and parcel of traveling with a village leader.

Not so much that there was pomp involved, a Nara was a Nara, but more that there were just a lot more people in general and with a kage there were security concerns and precautions that didn’t apply to a group of genin and their instructors.

“Mmm?” Kakashi played dumb for a moment, enjoying the snort and eye roll combination from his cute little _chuunin_ more than was probably wise. “Did you say something, Toshi-chan?”

“Whatever,” she sighed. “But Crow and Raven are about as subtle of ANBU tags for corvid summoners as _Hound_ would be for a dog summoner.”

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about such things, Toshi-chan.” Kakashi said perkily, still pretending that it hadn't taken his minion less than a week to figure out Itachi and Shisui’s aliases. Though he would certainly laugh about it with Tenzo later, as his love had taken over the position of leading the pair of Uchiha brats, at least until Shisui had been given his own team and Itachi moved with him. “Or else a leopard summoner might end up with a kawaii little neko mask in her future.”

At that Toshiko rolled her eyes so hard it felt like her entire _body_ was in on the action, but she let it drop nonetheless.

Maybe now if they needed to keep up the pretense of being ANBU - though they probably still _were_ what with that no one ever really _retiring_ from ANBU thing - the pair might pick something a _bit_ less obvious.

Or maybe now that a Nara had a stronger eye on the black ops corps, they might not be allowed to pick obvious aliases - Toshiko could _hope_ at least.

…

“What gave it away?”

“They’re out of practice pretending to _not_ be themselves.” Toshiko explained to Shikaku-sama when word got around to him about her conversation with Kakashi. “One of them did that _kawarimi with crows_ thing they’re known for.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah, for being a master of illusions and all the details that go into them, Crow _really_ isn’t that great at being subtle when Raven or Kakashi-sensei riles him up.”

“Noted. Thank you for your observation, Toshiko-chan.”

“It’s an honor to serve, Hokage-sama.”

…

There was a small crowd waiting when they returned to Konoha, which had Kakashi and Toshiko making identical grimaces - even if it was hard to tell in the case of Kakashi and his mask - at the sight of _eww people._

A feeling which little did Toshiko know - though Kakashi was _more_ than well aware, one of the reasons he found his former teammate’s status as a Hokage candidate vastly amusing - that it was a feeling shared on a soul-level with ANBU Crow, who due to his mask for once did _not_ have to hide his reluctance behind a blank affect and could grimace and silently sigh to his heart’s content.

Shikaku-sama had given her a new chuunin’s flak jacket in the lighter green that differentiated it from the dark green worn by jounin the first night out of Suna after they made camp, and Toshiko wore it ever since on top of her regular dark blue sleeveless shirt and three-quarter sleeved mesh armor in place of her black mesh belt that had been packed away. Her sewing skills had come in handy, moving her hitai-ate plate with the Konoha symbol from her belt to the flap of the flak jacket's right chest pocket and taking in the excess fabric in the shoulders to keep from it getting caught on her weapons or pouches she arranged across the back of her shoulders and hips. Her former-belt’s usual contents were moved easily enough into places in her flak jacket, though she had to memorize where they were for ease of use in an attack. Or even just a spar against her sensei, which were often just as bad or _worse_ than an enemy attack for all that they didn’t have the intent to cause _serious_ damage.

Kakashi-sensei was many things, someone to pull his punches wasn’t one of them.

A fact her bruises, scratches, and fractures could tell anyone who took a glance at her record at the hospital since she’d come into his care.

 _Tough love_ was one way to look at it, and though she knew there were _plenty_ of people in Konoha who disagreed with his methods, no one could argue with their results, or that for every punch, kick, slash, or jutsu Kakashi-sensei refused to lessen, there was likely one that could’ve killed her in combat that she avoided _because_ she learned under someone who _didn’t_ have “mercy” on his student but taught her to survive _anything_ that came at her instead.

She didn’t know if she was being ruthless or terrible over wanting Naruto-kun on Kakashi’s team now that she knew firsthand what he could be like as a sensei, but she chose to look at it as love. She wanted Naruto to survive with everything in her. Even if it meant inflicting the likes of a merciless Hatake Kakashi on him and whatever hapless genin got stuck with the two of them under Kakashi-sensei’s authority.

 _“Toshi-nee-chan!”_ The cry could likely be heard for miles, but it brought a smile to her face nonetheless, even when the origin of it was greeted with more than a few glares or sneers from the gathering.

Not that Naruto paid them any mind, already slipping from Nobu-ji’s grip and darting forward to hug her, giving approximately zero fucks about the villagers.

Or what they thought of him, though he’d been known to prank the _shit_ out of anyone talking down - either to or about - either Toshiko and her uncle because of their stubborn insistence on being good to him.

Shikaku-sama merely shook his head and kept walking over to where his wife and son waited to welcome them home, along with his assistant who would fill him in on all the happenings of the village while he’d been gone the last two weeks. He’d have to go straight to his office after speaking shortly to his family, where the various commanders were awaiting him, but first he could take a moment to be a man before Hokage. Kami knew there were little enough moments for that, even with using shadow clones to do his paperwork.

 _How_ Sarutobi had never figured out that trick, he’d never know.

Shikaku had started using it as soon as he’d been made a team lead, let alone Jounin Commander.

A chronic lack of common sense, if nothing else, would explain the oversight. Which, given Sarutobi’s track record, actually wasn’t that unfeasible a rationalization.

Shikaku actually _liked_ having time to meet up with his friends, or see what was going on in the village, or play shogi with his son, even have his wife harangue him over being too lazy to put his clothes in the hamper.

Oh well. Not his circus and not his monkeys. Among the _many_ tasks he now faced as Hokage - even an interim one, though that was kept secret except for among the top leadership of the village - dealing with Sarutobi’s _issues_ wasn’t among them unless it started negatively impacting the village as a whole.

Worse than it already _has_ anyway - but Shikaku wasn’t Hokage then, not the way he was now, and so long as Senju Tsunade remained away from Konoha and didn’t bring her problems to their door, and Jiraiya remained a useful spymaster, Shikaku was at peace with letting them remain someone else’s problem.

…

That night after Naruto was asleep after the hectic day filled with anxious waiting and then a miniature celebration of Toshiko’s promotion with the handful of people Toshiko actually liked (Nobu-ji, Naruto-kun, Kakashi-sensei, Tenzo-san, and Yua-san, plus a couple of their neighbors like Genma and Raido) plus too much dango and mochi, Toshiko knelt in _seiza_ in their main room.

She kept her hands still and body exact as she’d been taught, her eyes nearly _straining_ with effort to keep from drifting away from where Nobu-ji was preparing and performing a formal tea ceremony to honor her and over to the long packet wrapped in silk at Nobu-ji’s side.

Her breath had caught when he came into the room with it and she felt like she hadn’t found her ability to breathe ever since despite knowing otherwise.

Heart in her throat, she resisted the urge to either stare at the package or lean into the comfort of Yua’s side where her companion and partner was sitting in stately grace with her paws set _just so_ and her tail curved around them and just _lightly_ resting against her summoner’s thigh.

Nobu-ji added the powdered green tea precisely, handled the whisk _just so,_ poured them each a measure with reverent hands and waited for them each to take a sip before speaking.

“I never wished for this to be my duty.” Nobu said with a voice torn between pride and grief as he set his cup aside and rested the silk-wrapped packet on his thighs. “Natsuko was the matriarch of our little family, endlessly proud of our traditions and history for all that her talents rested in other areas. Both fierce and kind, you have done _honor_ to our family and to her legacy, Toshiko. With becoming a chuunin in the service of the Leaf, and by our traditions completing a _hunt_ like none other before you,” his stern mouth curved into a slight smile at the thought of all the Kumo-nin she’d humiliated and before that the S-Class criminal she’d brought to lethal justice. “I name you Matriarch of the Ono Family, Toshiko, and acknowledge your right to carry Jizo, the bow of our Matriarchs, until you pass it to another or you pass to dwell in the Pure Lands with those who came before you.”

Swift hands, made strong and powerful from his training, whisked the silk wrapping away from a lovingly oiled and polished bow fashioned of rosewood - rare and exquisite, almost never seen outside the borders of the Land of Jungles but highly desired for weapons and furniture alike. Rather than the yew longbow carried by honored males of their family that Nobu still wielded, Jizo was a recurve bow, fashioned specifically to account for the slighter stature and shorter height of kunoichi. Jizo’s handgrip was worn as smooth as silk from generations of users, and Nobu had kept the wood cleaned, oiled, and polished for many years as while it had been in his sister’s possession before her death, she’d never favored it preferring her seals.

“Thank you, ojisan.” Toshiko bowed low, forehead briefly touching the floor before rising and taking Jizo - and their family’s legacy as Konoha’s hunter-nin - into her keeping. “I will carry Jizo with pride and use her to bring our family honor.”

“Of that, I have no doubt.” Nobu smiled, nodding his head. “Though to ensure it I have, _finally,”_ he said drily, thinking of how difficult the matter had been to arrange. He swore, Hatake was more stubborn than a _mule_ and more protective than a she-wolf when it came to Toshiko. Which Nobu appreciated in general, just not when he was being a pain in the ass merely for the thrill of it. “Arranged time to work with you on our family-specific hunting and tracking skills, as well to polish your archery now that you have Jizo.”

“How much time?” Toshiko asked, frowning lightly. There was only a little time left before the Academy graduation exams and soon the team placements were all going to be argued over and decided - both things that she wanted to be around for.

“Only two weeks.” Nobu grimaced. Not nearly enough, especially compared to how much time he spent at Toshiko’s age with his father learning their family’s ways. But between Toshiko’s schedule and his own with ANBU, it was all he could manage for the moment. “We’ll have to fit more in as we go, and we’ll have to do it in the village, but that’s what the Forest of Death is good for if nothing else.”

Toshiko winced. She’d prefer another run through Suna’s sand fields - traps and all - over Training Ground Forty-Four. That place - aptly called the Forest of Death - was a living testament to just how _fucking weird_ the founders of Konoha were since all of them had used the area for their experiments at one point or another before their deaths - or in the case of Madara going missin-nin. She didn’t know if the man-eating animals, insects, or _fucking plants_ were worse, or if it was the lingering Mokuton causing ever-more mutations, but the Forest of Death _wasn’t right._

“Now,” Nobu clapped his hands together lightly as Toshiko lifted the bow and started familiarizing herself with it as a _weapon_ and not just a piece of their family history hanging on the wall. He leaned forward intently. “Tell me about this shockwave arrowhead I’ve been hearing about…”

Toshiko grinned, hands caressing over the smooth rosewood, and began explaining her sealing experiments with arrowheads to the only other archer she knew who’d appreciate them _appropriately_ instead of as merely another tool in their arsenal.

Her mother wasn’t the _only_ reason she was viciously creative after all, and not all of her ideas had come from who she was _before_ but also from Nobu-ji’s stories of his missions - sanitized for the classified bits or not - and what she thought might have come in handy for him here or there.

While if someone started reproducing her designs without giving her benefit - every village had an R&D department that classified jutsu but also weapons innovation to ensure that new developments weren’t hoarded by their creators for fear of them being stolen - she’d be pissed and would go hunting, Nobu-ji was a different story entirely.

She knew what he did for the village.

And if sharing even one of her arrowhead designs would see him returning from a mission that would otherwise kill him, she’d do it in a heartbeat.

She would also be patenting her designs for the village blacksmiths to use for forging arrowheads, even if her own would likely be more powerful.

The Ono family wasn’t known for madmen or fools, and she would have to be one or the other to turn her nose up at effortless income now that she’s already done the legwork on some of her designs and proven they work.

That it would _also_ keep Nobu-ji from heckling her for arrowheads was a relatively minor factor in the larger scheme of things but still…

Neither a madwoman or a fool.

She had better things to do with her rare free time than while away hours carving and engraving for her uncle, no matter how much she loved him.

Even if she was still too young to _do_ anything with the various jounin shinobi who’d caught her eye, she could still get dango and _look._

So long as she didn’t stare or publicly daydream.

That was never a good look, no matter who was doing it.

Case in point: the clan prodigy fangirls that were honestly lucky they didn’t put the likes of the Uchiha Heirs or Hyuuga Neji off of women entirely.

Or at least...they better not.

Otherwise, Toshiko would have to put her huntress skill to good use...well except if it was Sasuke.

He’d never hit her as all that straight in the Naruto ‘verse stories, if anything he’d been kinda hitting her radar as ace...or just obsessive to the point that he didn’t even recognize sex as a thing he might be interested in.

Time would tell in this life, she supposed, since the Sasuke she’d seen around and about and talked to now and again when she was picking up Naruto-kun or treating his friends to dango was a happy, affectionate, well-adjusted clan kid if registering on the prodigy scale.

Not like his counterpart _at all_ , except maybe for wanting to be as strong or stronger than his brother, but not having his entire family and clan slaughtered by someone he idolized and loved in equal measure would do that.

To that extent, she wondered if Sasuke would even end up as one of Kakashi’s genin?

With his loyalty not in question and an entire clan to learn from when he eventually activated his Sharingan...huh, maybe not and they’d give Kakashi someone else to balance out Naruto and whoever their third might be if they don’t do a complete repeat of Minato’s Team Seven and have Toshiko play the kunoichi against Kakashi’s new baby genin.

It was a change she saw coming but with so many moving pieces couldn’t predict.

Naruto wasn’t the dead-last with help and tutoring from Toshiko and her family ever since she took him under her wing.

Sasuke wasn’t a revenge-obsessed flight risk.

Toshiko had never even spoken to Sakura and Naruto didn’t have a crush on her (he did, but it lasted all of two seconds before her right-hook ended it permanently, Naruto having enough self-esteem to not be hungry for _any_ kind of acknowledgement he could get) so she had no idea if she was still a fangirl whose value as a potential kunoichi at the moment would be in book-smarts with almost no functional skills to back it up.

She just didn’t _know_ and it was driving her nuts.

A problem she shortly wouldn’t have any longer as Nobu-ji took his turn at training her into the ground, determined to wring every last second of time they had to grind skills into her before she went back under Kakashi’s oversight and he disappeared back into ANBU.

On the plus side, Toshiko never called Kakashi “Oni-sensei” ever again.

On the downside, she never called Nobu-ji anything _else_ when he was training her until he eventually retired from active service and turned his demonic training energy on the hapless ANBU recruits who had to deal with him instead of his niece.

To the point that one in _particular_ bought him an Oni-mask as a gag, only to find that Viper had been hung up and Oni had come into service.

Because yes: Ono Nobu was _just_ that kind of asshole who did things like that.

And was proud of it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little short for this fic, but there really wasn't a better place to end it so... *shrugs*

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Two_ **

**Chapter Twelve: The Legacy of Team Seven**

_1 July, 11 Years Post-Kyuubi Attack_

Once again Kakashi found himself joining the rest of the jounin instructors selected by the annual draw from the ranks of active, non-ANBU jounin as well as the Academy instructors over the latest crop of potential genin, the Hokage, and the various commanders and heads of departments for the team sorting to come up with first-choice teams and then alternates depending on testing scores and surprise failures.

Potential successes were never overlooked, though those deemed least likely or viable as potential jounin were sorted into teams not expected to pass their jounin-sensei’s test to weed out the ones who weren’t ready or capable of becoming jounin in turn.

This time Kakashi was actually _on time_ \- which almost made his fellow instructors for this round have an aneurysm - but just got him a nod and a considering look from Shikaku-sama.

He was _serious_ about this in a way he rarely was anything, the way he’s been a sensei to Toshi-chan and a partner to Tenzo and a friendly rival to Gai aside.

 _This_ was his own sensei’s legacy, and though the track record of Team Seven wasn’t stellar by any means (two dead, one traitor, one drunk abandoner, one spymaster, one formerly-suicidal ANBU) it was still _his,_ still Minato-sensei’s and Kakashi’s to bear, and bear it he would.

Besides which, short of hauling Jiraiya back to _finally_ do something for his godson, or maybe pushing Shisui out of ANBU altogether instead of the half-and-half venture he currently had going while Shikaku decided on which Uchiha was going to claim his hat, there wasn’t a single active jounin who could probably handle Naruto to bring out his best potential. Sure, there were instructors that could get him over the line to chuunin. Maybe even jounin. But that sunny-haired kid with all of Minato’s joy and Kushina’s fire wouldn’t grow the way Kakashi _knew_ he could without the right motivation.

And there was nothing to _motivate_ in Kakashi’s experience like the threat of losing what you love - in Naruto’s case, being teamed up with Toshiko and having to step up to hold his own and even protect her if the mission warrants it would do more to push him than any dream of recognition or desire to change the world or whatever it was that Naruto told people when they asked those sorts of questions.

“Ino-Shika-Cho right out of the Academy isn’t a good idea for this set of heirs.” Shikaku-sama said with nothing short of knowing exasperation filling his tone. “In a few years once they’re jounin, like my team was when we came together, yes.” He continued to explain. “Our clans have been working together for more than a dozen generations, but Ino-Shika-Cho doesn’t just _happen._ There’s a maturity and mutual respect that has to be achieved _first_ and when it’s absent trying to force it will just do more harm than good.”

Iruka, the lead instructor for this year’s crop of chibi-would-be-shinobi, winced but nodded in agreement with Shikaku’s assessment despite it being starkly contrary to what Sarutobi-sama’s had been.

But then, of the two of them, one of the kage had a much more intimate look into the subject and if anyone would know, it was Shikaku-sama when it came to both his own and his teammates’ heirs.

Sarutobi Asuma looked like a child who’d had their favorite toy taken away at Shikaku’s decision - and as Hokage he absolutely had veto power over everything to do with shinobi affairs and often the village as a whole - as his father had promised him the Ino-Shika-Cho formation when he’d agreed to enter his name in the lottery for jounin-sensei after he’d finished his time with the Twelve Guardian Shinobi at the Daimyo’s court.

Iruka held in a snicker.

Served him _right_ for thinking that training _any_ three genin would be easy, almost as much as _actually_ giving him a team as dysfunctional as that one would have been as it stood as _that_ would have been true karma at work.

“So we split Ino-Shika-Cho.” Ibiki snorted, narrowing his eyes on the picture of the genin candidates about to graduate. “Should be send one to Team Seven with Kakashi?”

The jounin in question narrowed his free eye on the pictures, mentally reviewing the trio.

“Nara Shikamaru, maybe.” He allowed a moment later after finishing his mental assessment and matching it up against their expected performances and what he’d seen of them while he was doing his due diligence (aka spying) on the Academy students like any smart jounin-sensei trying to put together a team. “Toshi-chan is good at tactics and seeing underneath the underneath, but she could always be better. The Nara genius might help balance out against her own ethos.”

“How do you mean?” Shikaku asked, genuinely curious about how Kakashi saw Shikamaru settling into Team Seven with Naruto-kun and Toshiko-chan given that he’d personally had another genin earmarked for what in time would become a coveted slot when the kids’ contemporaries realized just what sort of monsters the two would become.

“She’s mature, that’s not an act.” Kakashi explained easily. “And that’s where her reputation as a prodigy comes from. It’s not that she’s mystically more talented than her age-mates, it’s that she’s drastically harder working than them. A genius of hard work and logic married to nearly impeccable instincts when it comes to people and cause and effect. Naruto is different but similar with a work ethic he learned at Toshi-chan’s side. A kinesthetic genius if anything with - even excluding the obvious - massive chakra reserves from his clan. He can pick up things in a day that take others weeks, and things in a week that might take another a month or year.”

“Neither of them are traditional prodigies or geniuses.” Iruka agreed with that assessment easily enough, though he’d never taught Ono-chan to know her for himself, he _could_ see when he knew where to look what of hers had rubbed off on Naruto-kun, especially with how often the phrase _“Toshi-nee-chan said…”_ came out of his mouth. “In which case balancing that with…” He pursed his lips and shared a look with Shikaku-sama. “Uchiha Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru, Aburame Shino, or Haruno Sakura would be the best options to balance their _un_ traditional genius with a more intellectual approach.”

“Not Haruno.” Kakashi grimaced. “And I didn’t say that either of them were unintelligent. Toshi-chan is strikingly intelligent. She’s just...creatively so.”

Naruto wasn’t even close to _stupid_ either for all that he could be a bit of an airhead at times...but then he came by that absolutely naturally.

“Toshiko-chan would eat Haruno _alive_ the first time she spouted off some fangirl gibberish.” Was the assessment of the ANBU Commander. “And Aburame is a needed balance between Hyuuga and Inuzuka for a tracking team.” Another typical team set up. “Perhaps the question should be, what kind of team are we planning on making out of a Huntress, a jinchuuriki, and a third member?”

“RRT.” Shikaku sighed and voiced his thoughts on the matter. “Rapid Response Team, involved in everything from Frontline Combat, to Search and Rescue, Fugitive Tracking - either recovery or assassination, and Sabotage.”

“You want to make them a new Densetsu no Sannin.” Kakashi blinked, honestly not having seen that coming given that there were certain parallels to be drawn between Team Minato and what was shaping up to be Team Kakashi. 

Then the pieces spun in his head and clattered into place, forming a picture that made far too much sense now that he had the piece the Hokage had been holding onto.

Not ANBU - at least not disappearing into ANBU the way some powerful shinobi did - but an active Konoha team that was sent out to demolish battlefields and be a living warning against fucking with either the Leaf or the Land of Fire.

There were some who still believed that if the Senju heiress hadn’t abandoned the Leaf that the Third Shinobi War never would have begun in the first place.

Which, depending on how Kakashi turned the kaleidoscope, cast Toshiko-chan as the sealing mistress who knew _far_ too well the underbelly of the world who was also a taijutsu expert, or as the last of a long legacy who healed as easily as she destroyed.

Naruto-kun with his chakra levels would make one _hell_ of a ninjutsu expert and he definitely had the capacity to learn what would be needed.

Leaving them with the final piece, one that could slide into an existing dynamic both between Toshiko and Naruto and Toshiko and Kakashi, not to be glue but balance.

One who wouldn’t resent the long shadows cast by their teammates but instead would be challenged to keep up and cast a long shadow of their own.

“Uchiha Sasuke.” Kakashi spoke the picture into life as it crystalized for him, feeling half like a chance at redemption and half as a punishment for his failures. “If the Nara heir will be pulled in a few years for the Ino-Shika-Cho formations, then it needs to be Uchiha, he’s the only one left who could stand a chance keeping up with his prospective teammates and shouldn’t resent the dynamic between Toshiko and Naruto given that he gets special training from his brother and clan.”

Plus, to be frank, there wasn’t a whole hell of a lot that Kakashi could see him actually _teaching_ Nara Shikamaru.

The learning there would probably be put on Toshi-chan’s shoulders and he couldn’t responsibly put that onto her when she still had too much to learn of her own accord.

“Team Seven, provided both candidates pass their graduation exams, will consist of Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto joining sensei Hatake Kakashi and his apprentice Ono Toshiko.” Shikaku announced, taking the form from Iruka who’d filled in the last name with a flourish after hearing Kakashi’s decision and stamping it with the Hokage’s seal. “Now, Team Nine…”

…

Toshiko was only a _little_ worried as she waited outside the Academy on graduation day for Naruto to appear.

Having only _just_ made chuunin and gotten access to B-Rank restricted jutsus, she hadn’t known how to complete a _kage bunshin_ , let alone _managed_ it without sending herself straight into chakra exhaustion prior to last week.

Kakashi-sensei had taught her after careful review of her chakra reserves before determining that she _should_ be able to maintain a single _kage bunshin_ outside of battle or missions. For her, it was mainly a tool for either paper-studies like advanced sealing theories or the mechanics behind elemental chakra affinities to try and overcome her block regarding suiton jutsus. Well, outside of what its _main_ purpose for her was, which was to empty her chakra reserves to near-zero every other day in order to - like exercising a muscle - force them to grow and expand while she still had a moderate amount of flexibility in her tenketsu points and the eight chakra gates to benefit from that sort of training.

All of it happening completely under Kakashi-sensei’s all-seeing, all-knowing (or at least it felt that way sometimes) self to prevent her from overdoing it and frying her chakra coils instead of expanding her reserves.

Left on her own and using her regular exercises and training, in about another year she would be at the point to reliably call for Isamu-san as a summons during battle, or use _a_ shadow clone while also using chakra for other tasks.

She was stronger chakra-wise than any of the upcoming genin with the stark exception of Naruto-kun, and her control was vastly superior as well, but with all the focus on building her physical skills, now she was on a time limit to expand her chakra reserves as well since her physical body - and therefore her chakra coils and reserves - was maturing faster than, from what she’d heard and seen, about three-quarters of the village’s young kunoichi.

However, issues of chakra and training aside, while she’d just learned shadow clones, she _had_ picked up how to fashion elemental clones - and while not the massive draw on chakra that shadow clones were, elemental clones weren’t _nearly_ as fiddly as the Academy-standard (and useless for the most part) _bunshin._

They also weren’t a restricted jutsu, merely left for later since most young shinobi-hopefuls didn’t have the chakra or the patience or training to manage to use an elemental clone reliably.

Thank the Sage, but Naruto’s main affinity wasn’t suiton but fuuton, and had after about a month of sporadic practice around both of their schedules in addition to Toshiko’s missions her ball of sunshine had started predictably forming chakra into Wind Clones.

She hadn’t told him that they could be weaponized into mini-wind storms or tornadoes, but felt that that was all for the best until Naruto was either older or figured it out for himself.

Also thank the Sage, but he hadn’t seen Itachi use a Wind Clones as a shockwave either during one of the Uchiha heir’s “sparring” sessions with his cousin, or else her hopes of him taking a _long_ time to figure out that tick of Wind Clones would’ve been dead in the water.

Still, she was on tenterhooks, as even though many things had changed, others _hadn’t_ it they were deep enough into the ripples that predicting one over the other was impossible.

That said, when Naruto darted out of the Academy building almost one of the last to be tested and with his hitai-ate tied around his head and resting proudly as an actual forehead protector (which made him one of the only people in their little makeshift family who wore it the “correct” way) smiling from ear to ear, she let out a relieved sigh.

There were still many secrets her sunshine needed to learn, but over her dead _body_ would he be learning them from a bitter traitor.

Shikaku-sama was pleased with her.

Perhaps it was time, now that things had settled after the Suna Chuunin Exams and Naruto was officially an adult in the eyes of the law, for her to use that social capital she’d built up with him for a purpose.

The Sandaime’s law said chuunin or fifteen.

She thought, with a logical argument, that she might managed to talk the Godaime around to genin with a controlled, measured release of information over time.

First though, she had Naruto’s success to celebrate, and from the excited chattering coming from her charge, it sounded like almost his entire class would be eating out and celebrating at one of the Akimichi restaurants.

Including, naturally, the Godaime and his son Shikamaru.

Toshiko _did_ appreciate when a plan came together, even if in this case it was just an opportunity to ask for a meeting rather than trying to wrangle one from the Hokage’s secretary.

…

She watched and cataloged the way the various freshly-minted genin spoke to each other and about each other around the restaurant that seemed to have been mostly taken over to celebrate what amounted to most of the heirs of Konoha’s main clans taking their first real steps along the path to becoming shinobi of the Leaf.

Toshiko stood a bit apart: not quite their contemporary but not that much older than them either, with her main connection being to Naruto and those he called friends.

Shikaku-sama had heard her quite request for a meeting the next day with dark eyes that followed her own to where Naruto was chattering animatedly at an amused and - and it was a bit of a surprise, not something she saw coming - _indulgent_ if she had to put a word to it, Shikamaru then nodded.

She happened to _adore_ that Shikaku-sama didn’t bother with playing the fool or the dottering grandfather, but was blunt when called for and a sneaky sonofabitch always.

…

With two days before Naruto was due for his team assignment, and an entire morning and afternoon to kill before her meeting with the Hokage, Toshiko spent that Saturday completing two tasks: moving Naruto into the Ono apartment and taking him shopping for better supplies as a graduation gift from her and Nobu-ji...and what she called the “Yondaime-spawn-support Fund” if only in her mind.

In a couple years they would have to make adjustments, an eleven year old boy and a thirteen year old girl sharing a room was one thing, but at thirteen and fifteen things started to take a different shape when they weren’t - technically - blood related.

Naruto’s collection of house plants fit on ledges in their room or the kitchen or even the bathroom, his clothes tucked in the dresser Nobu-ji had moved in for him, his futon from his nights spent over already in its place.

Kakashi-sensei had given her the day off from training to get Naruto settled, though Toshiko had “mysteriously” found an envelope stuffed with ryo - not the normal “extra” from Nobu’s sources - tucked in her flak jacket when she’d gotten home the night before that had had her shaking her head at him and adding it to the pile for Naruto’s outfitting.

She took him to one of the shinobi outfitters that had never given Nobu-ji problems after they’d taken over keeping an eye on Naruto, and for the most part only tried to steer him when he started to go a little _too_ wild.

Mainly over orange, and at this point despite all her efforts otherwise she’s half convinced that it either was genetic imprinting from his yellow-and-red parents or because of his belly demon because it really made no _sense_ for a shinobi to cling to a bright color like that or want it for uniform clothes.

“No.” She crossed her arms and arched a _very_ unimpressed brow at the orange monstrosity of a jumpsuit that looked _extremely similar_ to one from her memory. “Absolutely not. That’s just _asking_ to be targeted.”

“But, Toshi-nee!” Naruto whipped out the power of the puppy eyes and quivering lip. “Orange!”

“No.” She remained unmoved. “If you want to be a walking target in the village that’s one thing and now that you’re a genin that’s your choice. No brother of _mine_ will be a walking Kill Me Please sign on missions.” She uncrossed her arms and pointed imperiously over to the standard pants and tops in a variety of inoffensive colors. “We can put the Uzumaki symbol in orange on the shirts.” She offered by way of a compromise. “What colors do you want?”

Naruto wrinkled his nose and pouted before putting the jumpsuit back.

“Blue I guess.” He sighed, knowing without a doubt that further pushing wasn’t going to get him anything but an irritated Toshi-nee. Naruto looked at her in a kimono wrap top in a pale blue much lighter than she wore for her uniform and one of those weird girl shorts that had a skirt thing in front in white. “Darker than that,” he waved at her shirt. “But lighter than your dark-dark blue uniforms.”

“Not wearing that color anymore for the most part now that I’m a chuunin.” She filled him in with a slight amused smile. “Switched over to greens and tans to go with the vest and to blend in better, but medium blue it is.” She tilted her head towards the mesh armor. “Go get your armor for under your clothes, believe me it’ll come in handy.”

“Are you sure, Toshi-nee?” Naruto looked at the prices on even the genin-grade armor. “It’s really expensive and you said we still need to go to the weapon shop.”

“I’m sure.” Toshiko nodded, thinking of extra ryo and emotionally stunted senseis. “You’re covered kiddo, trust me.”

“Whatever you say, Toshi-nee....”

…

 _“They need to be told, Shikaku-sama. Him and whoever is on his team._ Look _at him. The first time a shinobi who knew the Yondaime or saw him on the battlefield sees him, it’s all over anyway. Better it come from_ us _than from an enemy…”_

...

Iruka strode into the room that had been pared down by the graduation exams to seventeen genin from a mixed bag of backgrounds and talents.

He’d been in the meeting to confirm the teams, sat through all the discussions, but a part of him was still unsettled over some of the decisions that had been made. Over some of the future that had been planned out for his young charges who were about to leave his care. This was his first graduating class. His hesitance was understandable.

Even so, there was one team in particular he wasn’t looking forward to the fallout from, from his own students more than anything else.

They may have been his charges but he wasn’t blind to their faults: and the way of the fangirl ran _deep_ in this crop of former-students though he wasn’t sure _why._

There was pouting and sulking from a couple of the young kunoichi as they learned that they wouldn’t be on a team with their crush, but all too soon the inevitable announcement came and Iruka girded his resolve and said it:

“Team Seven: Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto to join Jounin-Sensei Hatake Kakashi and his apprentice Ono Toshiko.”

A deep breath, like the calm before the storm, but before he could move on the classroom _exploded_ into screams of denial and chaos.

And Naruto was right in the middle of it, though for a very different reason.

“YES!” Naruto jumped up from his seat and punched the air, even Sasuke showing more active interest than was normal for him at the announcement that was like a balm to low-grade _terror_ over being stuck with a fangirl until he could make chuunin. “TOSHI-NEE-SAN! I got Toshi-nee-san!”

For once, Naruto remembered to use the honorific for an _elder_ sister, especially since that was the sort of thing that Iruka-sensei tended to get huffy over.

Then his eyes got big and he looked over at Sasuke, who seemed _happy_ \- or maybe experiencing some extreme schadenfreude in Iruka’s opinion as he shouted to calm down the majority of his female charges - at their placement.

They didn’t have a problem with each other or anything, if anything they liked sparring with each other since between Sasuke’s Uchiha training and what Naruto received from Toshi-nee and Nobu-ji they had a pretty even win/loss tally between them.

No, what struck Naruto immediately _after_ the joyous ecstasy of being placed on the same team as his mentor/big sister figure was that _he was being placed on the same team as his mentor/big sister figure..._ which meant being _trained_ by her oni-sensei.

“Sasuke,” he meeped, eyes too big in his suddenly pale face. “Toshi-nee’s sensei is a _demon_.” He said in a carrying whisper as Iruka-sensei went back to announcing the teams. “We’re gonna _die!”_

Honestly, as far as Sasuke was concerned, as long as there was a lack of fangirls, their jounin-sensei could be the Shinigami itself, so he really didn’t share Naruto’s concern.

Which, in hindsight...was a mistake.

….


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have I said lately that I *hate* transcribing handwritten pages to typing? Because I do. I hates it. I hates it a lot. *sighs* Now that I've got that out of my system, I have another chapter and a quarter or so to transcribe after this, so there should be another update in a few days.

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Three_ **

**Chapter Thirteen: How a Heart Breaks**

Iruka loved his career. He loved being a sensei. He loved teaching and opening young minds and preparing his students for their lives.

What he _did not_ love at the moment was the chaos that had overtaken his classroom.

And not without _reason_ either.

This class of graduates was bigger than most, and in turn while it was usual that there would be three teams or nine students that were earmarked for jounin-sensei training and eventually climbing the ranks to jounin themselves, this year was larger in its potential. When he’d been in the meetings over the years regarding this class (and heard rumors about the one ahead of it and the two behind it) _why_ there was such a bump and change from the norm had never been explained. It had even required a bit more shifting around of potential teams from the meetings as the Hokage and ANBU Commander had looked at a couple of the team assortments and insisted on swapping genin between them.

Again, for reasons that _he_ didn’t know but he thought that quite a few of the others in the team assignment meetings _were_ aware of and stank of classified files and ANBU.

The only team that still looked the same from when it was originally proposed was Team Seven, and _that_ had more to do with Naruto-kun being, well, _promised_ to Kakashi-san basically from birth if he understood what had been both said and left unsaid regarding the sunny boy and one of Konoha’s more infamous jounin personalities.

Iruka personally wasn’t happy with Team Fifteen since it contained two of his students who were some of the quietest in the class in Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Hinata, as well as one of the ones who while quiet and observant was often outlandish and vulgar in Uchiha Sai. Under _the_ Uchiha mistress of Illusion herself in the Clan Matriarch Mikoto (which had made _both_ Uchiha boys’ eyes almost bulge out of their heads when she filed in with the rest of the jounin to collect her team) that team in particular was either going to shape up to be beyond terrifying in its efficiency or one that was functionally mute and he wasn’t certain yet which way it was going to swing.

The high note of the day had to be when Asuma-san arrived to pick up his trio and got the full-force effect of watching his assigned kunoichi in Haruno Sakura have a screaming match with Yamanaka Ino over whose fault it was that neither of them were on the same team as their “beloved Sasuke-kun.”

Somehow he had a feeling that Shikaku-sama was watching this all with glee from his office, especially since the Hokage had _not_ been pleased with his predecessor making _promises_ regarding team placements to his son, made even _more_ troublesome - or infuriating, sometimes with Shikaku-sama it was hard to tell - as it was _Shikaku’s_ son who was supposed to be on the “easy” team.

The last of Iruka’s kids to bounce out the door was the pair of Sasuke and Naruto, trailing behind an amused Toshiko, their sensei nowhere to be seen.

Which, given it was _Kakashi_ and he was rarely on time for anything but missions, wasn’t a shock.

Both boys were already taller than the diminutive kunoichi two years their senior, with long thin limbs just this side of gangly and made for interesting bookends on either side of her with their dark hair/pale skin and bright blond/golden skin contrasting against her own coloring.

 _That_ , in Iruka’s opinion, was a potential team that was either going to rival or surpass the Sannin as Shikaku-sama intended or implode spectacularly.

Though given the Godaime’s tactical ability, he wouldn’t be planning on the latter anywhen soon.

…

Sasuke shot hidden glances over at Toshiko-san as she led the way to Training Ground Seven where they would be meeting their sensei.

Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-Nin, Kakashi of the Thousand Jutsu, Kakashi of the Sharingan.

A shinobi who was both grudgingly respected by some members of Sasuke’s clan like his father and reviled by others like Haruka-ba-sama of the clan elders for his refusal to return his gifted Sharingan to the clan.

There were a handful of shinobi in the clan who didn’t care one way or another, and some others who actually _liked_ the Copy-Nin both for his reputation increasing the reputation of the Sharingan on one hand and for his skill as a shinobi in general.

A couple like Itachi and Shisui just _liked_ him, but Sasuke thought that had more to do with them both still calling Hatake-san captain even years after he no longer held that position.

Hatake Kakashi taught his brother and cousin many skills, a fact they never let anyone forget whenever the clan started to grumble about Hatake-san’s Sharingan, and Sasuke was inclined to like his new sensei and learn from him diligently for that alone.

That his brother would be _disappointed_ if Sasuke didn’t make the most of such an opportunity to learn from his former captain and Sasuke _hated_ disappointing his brother more than just about anything in the world went without saying.

Toshiko-san was small, even for a young kunoichi, but her own reputation was worth consideration as well, as Sasuke was smart enough to see that by adding him and Uzumaki-kun to her established partnership with her mentor that Toshiko-san was set to be their team leader and captain in time.

Like all clans, the Uchiha kept an eye on rising stars in the shinobi ranks, and of them all Toshiko-san was one that shone brightest to many eyes.

Fierce, intelligent, and relentless were the words most often attributed to the new chuunin, even before she’d been tagged and added to the Iwa and Kumo bingo books (according to Shisui.)

Perceptive, cunning, and dangerous was Itachi’s opinion, along with the thought that she was heading in a trajectory to make her the most powerful kunoichi of her generation which included both her own and Sasuke’s classes of shinobi as well as the years in between and the one above and below.

Now she was a summoner with a powerful contract to the snow leopards, and had assisted with the claiming of two S-Ranked bounties.

Oh yes, Sasuke thought there were _plenty_ of things he could learn from Toshiko-san.

Now if he could stop blushing when she smiled at him, all would be well.

…

Toshiko escorted her pair of ducklings to the training ground that Kakashi-sensei reserved for them whenever they were actually in the village - which would be almost a constant state for the next few months as they worked with their new team.

“Lesson the first,” she said as she waved at the empty training ground without hide nor hair of their sensei to be seen. “Kakashi-sensei is almost _always_ late unless it’s for a mission. However, _we_ will never be late and we won’t be wasting our time while we wait on him either.” She stated firmly, staring her little brother and Sasuke down.

“Lesson the second,” she continued when her stare effectively cowed whatever protests or questions the younger boys had over that outlandish bit of warning. “From now on, except in the privacy of your homes, I am Toshiko-san or Ono-san or even taichou or senpai if you must use an honorific.” She spelled out clearly, especially for Naruto who was getting a mutinous expression on his face. “As members of this team, we will _all_ be targets for enemies. I have a capture alive bounty from Iwa and a dead or alive bounty in Kumo. Our sensei has a _Flee on Sight_ order on him, but his bounty is quite large so there will always be idiots either wanting to cash in on it or test their strength against him. Revealing our relationships beyond teammates to each other isn’t only foolish, it’s dangerous.”

Naruto’s face had slowly gone blank before his shoulders slumped and he nodded.

“That makes sense,” he wrinkled his nose. “Senpai.”

“Understood, senpai.” Sasuke confirmed, having a lot less of a problem with the stricture, but then he didn’t have the pre-existing relationship with Toshiko-senpai to navigate that Naruto did.

“That goes for each other as well: given or family name it doesn’t matter, especially since there’s no hiding Sasuke’s clan.” She flicked a smile over at the boy with typical Uchiha looks. “Or if you ever work with family or friends in the field. Honorifics give away more than you suspect to an enemy or an infiltrator after information to sell or forward on. Minimizing avenues for leverage is part of your lives now that you’re shinobi. Never forget that.”

Sasuke and Naruto murmured agreements, then blinked as she smiled and clapped her hands.

“Alright, time to kill until Kakashi-sensei arrives, so,” she studied them for a moment. “Something simple: chakra control exercises and meditation, just until he shows up and we can do the actual team introduction things that we’re _supposed_ to be doing right now.”

…

Arriving at Training Ground Seven, Kakashi felt an all-encompassing sense of dejavu.

There was his kawaii little Toshi-chan, moving smoothly through katas and leading their new minions, er, _genin_ , through one of her long chakra control exercises with its slow, controlled, nearly _elegant_ movements and teaching them how to focus and control their breathing hand-in-hand with the rest of them.

(Kakashi wasn’t fooling himself, the pair of boys by the time they were chuunin would be as much _Toshiko’s_ creatures as they were Kakashi’s, if they weren’t already due to their long acquaintance with the fierce little monster he’d made as much his own as Nobu’s or Natsuko’s or anyone else. At least, as much one _could_ for someone as unshakably _themselves_ as Toshi-chan.)

In his mind he replaced sunny Naruto, who had the look of ease in the katas brought about through long familiarity with the exercises, and Sasuke with his frown of concentration and most hesitant movements, with a single young girl whose coiled copper hair was a much of a warning as a viper’s brilliant coloring matched with what - at the time both so long ago and at once yesterday - had seemed at the time to be endless patience even for Kakashi’s foibles. That girl was still there. The patience was real but could be tested. The hair still a useless warning to people too stupid to see beyond the sweet face and slight stature to the ruthlessness and lean muscle.

But to Kakashi, she was growing far too fast for his comfort into a woman.

A sensation, he would bet good ryo, that her uncle faced in a series of shocks due to growth while she was away on missions instead of a slow insidious creep hidden beneath her constant presence.

Her patience was self-evident as she broke her stance to gently correct the placement of Sasuke’s arms or sent Naruto a _look_ that had him buckling down to contain and channel his boundless energy that had almost nothing to do with being a jinchuuriki and _everything_ to do with being the child of an Uzumaki and a man known throughout the Elemental Nations as the Yellow Flash.

Kakashi saw in front of him not just shadows of the past, however. Younger Toshiko, an infamous ANBU assassin, a gentle paper chuunin on the Barrier Squad. Minato-sensei in Naruto’s facial structure and hair, Kushina-chan in his smile that often bordered on _foxy._ The Uchiha legacy breeding strong and true in Sasuke’s _everything._ But also shades of the future: Naruto bounding ahead with power streaming around him, Sasuke rolling his eyes before they burned red with a legacy surpassing that almost every other shinobi family could claim at his side, and then Toshiko and her summons guarding and _grounding_ them from all sides.

 _They_ were the King of Konoha that the Will of Fire was built around, the future of long legacies that stood strong long before the great trees of Hashirama or the seals of Mito or the defenses of Tobirama or the strategies of Madara built Konoha out of nothing but an _idea._

 _They_ would one day be the reason that others could train and love and grow behind Konoha’s walls, with the power to level battle fields and the reputations that stopped wars before they could even start.

It was a future that he’d done - and likely will do again - unspeakable acts to protect.

Now there it was shimmering before him like a daydream. What _might be_ overlaying for an endless instant what _was._

Squaring his shoulders and gathering his chakra around him, Kakashi _shuushin’d_ onto the bridge then stuffed his hands in his pockets as he fell into his habitual slouch.

It was time to begin.

So that one day what he _saw_ could become what _is._

…

Neither Toshiko or Kakashi learned much they didn’t already know about Naruto or Sasuke during the brief introductions. Between Kakashi’s friendship with Itachi and Shisui that grew from their time on his ANBU team and Toshiko deciding to all-but-adopt Naruto, they weren’t exactly strangers to each other. A fact had the potential to make fashioning a team out of the lot of them both easier and much, _much_ harder. Well, depending on which innocent-appearing traps Kakashi and Toshiko managed to either avoid or to dismantle before they exploded while training and teaching and integrating the boys into their mentor-apprentice partnership.

One such subject had already come and gone over titles and honorifics.

Thankfully, with only _minimal_ fallout in the form of pouting and not a full-on spat or explosion.

Toshiko could hope all she wanted that the rest passed with such relative ease - but she wasn’t in the business of deceiving herself and wasn’t counting on it. Not with the conversation about secrets that was yet to come.

Wrangling the boys - Sasuke who liked tomatoes and disliked fangirls, Naruto who adored ramen (like definitely wasn’t a strong enough word) and disliked bullies - Toshiko brought them back to her home - well, _their_ home now that Naruto was officially moved in - and rolled her eyes at the sight of Kakashi sitting in the living room chatting with Yua.

Such an ass, leaving her to genin-wrangle while he gossiped with her summons or read porn.

“What’s going on Toshi-nee?” Naruto asked as soon as he spied Kakashi-sensei waiting on them. He didn’t think it was _just_ a team-building dinner, for all that he’d seen the Copy-Nin and his boyfriend Tenzo-san around often enough since Toshi-nee started training with the jounin years ago.

“There’s something you both need to know, Naruto-kun.” Toshiko told him solemnly as she ushered the boys over by Yua.

A bit of fluffy comfort never hurt anyone, and Sage knew Naruto was likely going to need it. Even if they were only going to learn the surface secrets tonight with the barest of facts and not the nitty-gritty surrounding the hows, whys, and therefores of them.

No, basic facts at first _only_ was the license given by Shikaku-sama and depending on reactions and follow-up questions more could be revealed in time.

At least in theory.

Both boys were smart little bastards, albeit ones who use and show their intelligence _very_ differently. Toshiko wasn’t putting it outside the realm of possibility for them to go digging. And to hit _gold_ if they went at it the right way or in the right place.

Once they at least know what it was they should be digging _for_ anyway.

Yua at a glance from her partner curled herself around the fox-kit, her tail extended to rest across the dark kitten’s lap where to her pleasure she found he had a gentle and respectful set of hands for petting.

“You have asked me questions in the past, when you were younger.” Toshiko started with a prefacing statement rather than ambushing Naruto out of nowhere. “Questions I’ve always had to answer with _I can’t tell you, it’s a secret._ ” She locked eyes with her ball of sunshine as Naruto sucked in a breath, eyes wide, Sasuke and Kakashi simply acting as silent watchers - for the moment - especially Sasuke who was frowning adorably and visibly confused. “Do you remember?”

“Why do they hate me?” Naruto repeated the thoughts that occupied so much of his thoughts when he allowed himself to dwell on it. On _them._ Which wasn’t as often as it once was, but still troubled him as much as he wished it wouldn’t. “Who were my parents? Why do _they_ call me demon-brat? Why does ANBU watch me?”

Though, granted, that last one was reworded now that he knew who/what his longtime shadows were - or rather, had to be as nothing else made sense given his recent knowledge of shinobi rankings and the different paths shinobi careers could take.

A topic that wasn’t covered until the last year of shinobi academy for those who weren’t raised in clans or families or were civilians and didn’t just pick up on such things from being around them all the time.

He had Nobu-ji and Toshi-chan, but other than Toshi-chan’s training they didn’t tend to talk about shinobi _life_ that much outside of his unofficial lessons.

Which, really, had only confused him _more_ when he realized other kids, even _really_ important ones like the noble clan heirs in his old class, didn’t have special guards like he did. Naruto was _certain_ that the only times they weren’t on his tail were when he was at the Academy or at Toshi-nee’s apartment - but in the case of the second, only when Nobu-ji was actually _home_ instead of doing whatever it was he _did_ as a jounin.

“It’s all tangled up in a couple classified orders.” Kakashi offered up to the conversation for the first time.

“Some were no doubt well-intended.” Toshiko said as neutrally as she was capable of being over such a fucked-up set of decisions. “Others, well,” she shrugged. “We have a new Hokage now and he’s willing to fix things, if it can be done safely.”

“What you are about to learn _cannot_ be shared.” Kakashi said firmly. “This information is still ranked as SS-Class secrets and are fully known to perhaps a handful of people in the village in total though most know pieces. If you wish to discuss it with someone,” his grey eye cut from one boy to the other. “You will need to check with me regarding their existing knowledge and if they’re _not_ privy to what you want to talk about, you’ll have to apply like Toshi-chan has done to the Hokage for an exemption to the existing secrecy orders.”

“Why all this secrecy?” Sasuke asked, now utterly baffled. “Over Naruto? He’s... _Naruto.”_

He didn’t mean it in a negative light, but the level of secrecy over a _kid’s_ background...it made no sense to him, even if he was the super-secret lost heir to a clan or something.

And _if_ he had been, Sasuke couldn’t believe that he would’ve been treated as he has been all his life by the civilians who shunned him and called him names.

“He’s also the last known member of the Uzumaki Clan of destroyed Uzushiogakure.” Toshiko held up her closed fist and counted down the issues, lifting a finger for each of the secrets that made one chibi-genin so much _more_ than a seemingly normal, if potentially powerful, shinobi in training. “Due to being the son of Uzumaki Kushina, a deceased kunoichi and jounin of Konoha.” A second finger flipped up. “With her husband,” a third, “the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato, known as the Yellow Flash. Both powerful in their time with Flee on Sight orders to their names and plenty of enemies.” And the fourth and last finger popped up. For the moment anyway. “Both of whom also died when an unknown shinobi attacked as Kushina-san went into labor with Naruto, pulling the Kyuubi no Kitsune out of Kushina-san, who was his second jailor and container, setting him to attack Konoha. And forcing the Yondaime to re-seal him inside the only person who could contain the Kyuubi and live: Naruto.”

Naruto, who at that moment had eyes the size of dinner plates and a totally _checked-out_ expression, tried to process one serious overload of information.

Though it should be said that Sasuke didn’t look all that much different than his teammate at the moment.

“So,” Kakashi clapped his hands together when he’d had enough of the shock-filled silence. All of a minute, if even that long. 

Toshiko loved her sensei but he had the capacity to deal with emotions, including his own, of the average _rock._

Tenzo-san had the patience of a _fucking saint_ and nothing Toshiko had ever seen of either of them alone or together convinced her otherwise.

“Tea, anyone?” Kakashi continued. “I need tea?”

And _poof_ he was gone to the kitchen almost leaving skid-marks in his wake with a speed of movement just shy of _shuushin._

Toshiko rolled her eyes extravagantly at his antics. Even if she couldn’t deny that they - in this instance at least - worked. Naruto and Sasuke blinked in surprise and then snickered at Toshiko’s reaction, though Naruto’s snickers soon turned to tears and sniffled hidden in Yua’s fur.

Sasuke turned and whipped his head around to stare in panic at Toshiko, who leaned over and began rubbing circles across Naruot’s back, situation for the moment well in hand. Taking his distraught teammate as handled for the moment, Sasuke sat back and stroked his hands once more over Yua-san’s tail. There was _much_ to be considered following Toshiko-senpai’s revelations.

And yet, in one fell swoop, _so much_ about Naruto and how the village treated him - more the civilians but still some shinobi weren’t exempt - was demystified.

“The-they h-hate me b-because I’m the Fox!” Naruto finally managed to get out around his sobs and gasps for breath. “I really _am_ an evil demon brat!”

Naruto couldn’t see it, hiding in Yua-san’s fur as he was, but Sasuke had a _prime_ view of how nothing short of _rage_ broke over Toshiko-senpai’s face at that before she closed her eyes and seemed to suck it all inside and tuck it away so she could respond to Naruto with a clear head and soothing voice. As an Uchiha taught to control their volatile - and _deep_ , so deep most of the people around them or who only knew them by reputation would likely never believe it - emotions from the cradle, Sasuke found that flicker, for all that it lasted hardly a second, impressive. With Toshiko-senpai it seemed, as with the rest of their newly formed team, there was much more to be found than what was shown on the surface.

…

“You’re not the Kyuubi or a demon brat or evil or a monster, otouto.” Toshiko told him voice fierce with love. She was not having _any_ of that bullshit, not even from him.. “You’re Uzumaki Naruto, _beloved_ son and nephew and little brother. You like ramen and mango sticky rice. You’re sweet, and kind, and are going to be so powerful one day that people call the Yondaime _your_ father instead of you _his_ son.” Once the secret was known anyway. “Being the Kyuubi jinchuuriki doesn’t change a damned _one_ of those things, Naruto-kun. It doesn’t change _anything_ except now you _know._ No matter what some idiots not worth any of our time have to say about it.”

Tear-filled blue eyes peeked up at her, no longer hidden in dappled fur.

“R-really, Toshi-nee?” His tone wobbled alongside his lip. “You really think so?”

Naruto could hardly believe it, Toshiko’s eternal care at war with a decade of the village’s neglect - whether hateful, absent-minded, or Hokage-ordered.

“When do I say things I don’t mean to you, otouto?” She demanded to know. “That now _you_ know doesn’t change anything. You’re still the same little gremlin of a genin that you were this morning or yesterday and the same Naruto you were five years ago. _Nothing, except your knowledge, has changed.”_ She stressed, Sasuke picking up on the entire _point_ of the conversation:

“Except now we know.” He paraphrased, face pensive.

She nodded firmly, a mere moment before she found herself tackled backwards by a blond missile with hugs on the brain and what seemed like a sudden acquisition of a dozen extra arms.

Now they all knew.

Oh, there would be _questions._ Both of the boys were too inquisitive to leave it there. Kakashi was fully aware of just _how unlikely_ it was for Toshiko to have the fullness of knowledge she did, unless he assumed that either Shikaku-sama or Nobu-ji told her directly. But those questions were yet to come.

For the moment, Toshiko would simply enjoy _not_ having permanently shattered Naruto into a million tiny pieces.

Though she _would_ be getting even with Kakashi-sensei for abandoning her to deal with the waterworks alone.

And revenge, when it came, would be _sweet_ indeed.

…

The first question, and the one she’d been most dreading, came that night as they were tucked up in their futons.

Kakashi-sensei took Sasuke home after they’d had that _tea_ the big lump had abandoned her to make. For more than an hour. The ass. Reminding them all that the boys had their assessments the next day and needed their rest. Toshiko hadn’t been asked to help with the spars but to observe, so she had the distinct impression that Kakashi wasn’t intending to play favorites.

Even when the boys might wish he _would._

Kakashi-sensei’s _caring_ from one perspective might seem like punishment or abuse when it came to training, but it made Toshiko with her chakra reserves that to begin with only average and her slight stature a kunoichi to fear. One who could, theoretically, survive just about anything thrown at her. Kakashi’s caring, having lost so much, revolved around survival above all else.

For instance, no matter how many times Toshiko sparred with her sensei and more lately Tenzo-san, it never really got easier, as they worked harder and held back less the more she grew and improved.

Considering that they were two of the most formidable solo-opponents in the Elemental Nations, that alone was an opportunity that few shinobi ever got and it showed in her performance at the Chuunin Exams along with the rest of her training.

One day she fully intended to be watching as her boys followed her example.

Despite all the pain, tears, blood, and no doubt whining that would come during the process.

“Toshi-nee?”

“Yes, Naruto-kun?”

“Who made the rule against telling me about,” he paused, trying to think of the right word. At a loss of anything better he went with: “me?”

Toshiko gave an internal sigh. No matter what she said. No matter how she chose to phrase this truth, in the end there was only a single answer she had - or could - give him.

And despite her issues, which were many and varied, with the man personally, she wouldn’t knowingly _choose_ to break Naruto’s heart if she had literally any other options that would lead to something worse.

“The Sandaime, Naruto-kun.” She told him at least eyes closed and voice soft but resolved nonetheless. “It was the Sandaime who decided what to do after your parents died and controlled your upbringing and acted as your legal guardian.”

Neither the shocked intake of breath, the hiccuping sobs, or the resurgence of tears were a surprise to Toshiko when they came moments after her voice stopped ringing through the thick silence of the small room.

What _was,_ after spending a day being little more than a harbinger of pain and suffering and ugly truths to her ball of sunshine, was having Naruto crawl over from his futon and squirm his way into her blankets until she got with the program and cuddled him close.

“I love you, otouto.” Toshiko whispered softly. “People love you. This will pass, will grow easier to bear. I promise.”

“But it won’t ever be the _same_ , will it Toshi-nee?” He asked with that astonishing perceptiveness that had been molded and sculpted and honed under the harsh gazes and biting words of the village civilians and Konoha's more idiotic (and perhaps suicidal depending on who heard or saw them) shinobi.

“No, otouto.” Toshiko sighed, thinking on all her experiences over the course of _two_ lives. “No, it won’t be the same. But if you’re strong and smart and brave and persistent, it might even be better.”

This puzzled Naruto. He’d been lied to and had information about _him_ and _his_ family and even his _clan_ kept from him. Like that he even _had_ a clan! How could any amount of _anything_ make things better than _before_ he knew a good chunk of his life was a lie?

She told him, in that same blunt - but caring, at least when it was aimed at Naruto - way she did most things this second time around.

“Because it won’t be built on or shadowed by this massive ugly fucker of a lie, Naruto-kun.” She ran one hand gently through his tufty blond hair. “It’ll be built on a truth instead. _Your_ truth, whatever you decide that is. And whatever you decide to make of it.”

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: 
> 
> It was mentioned earlier in the fic, but the kids from Root were rehabilitated if possible and spread out among their clans and families in Konoha if possible. Part of the rehab was getting them comfortable with their own age group while part of the hiding what happened deal was integrating them with that age group in the Academy. So we have extra teams and mixed teams to integrate some of the Root members into the Konoha shinobi corps, and a couple named OCs that probably will never actually show up other than being mentioned as so-and-so’s teammate. Also the discussions about the teams before they were actually set for the most part were still flexible, such as moving Hinata onto Shikamaru’s team rather than have him left with two Root members when the goal was parceling them out between the teams for maximum integration.
> 
> Team Assignments, Naruto’s Class:
> 
> Team Seven: [Rapid Response Team]  
> Sensei: Hatake Kakashi  
> Ono Toshiko (Chuunin)  
> Uchiha Sasuke  
> Uzumaki Naruto
> 
> Team Eight: [Tracking and Capture]  
> Sensei: Kurenai Yuhi  
> Ameshiro Manami [Former Root]  
> Aburame Shino  
> Inuzuka Kiba
> 
> Team Ten: [Generalist Team]  
> Sensei: Sarutobi Asuma  
> Haruno Sakura  
> Akimichi Choji  
> Kurama Katashi [Former Root]
> 
> Team Thirteen: [Capture and Interrogation]  
> Sensei: Hyuuga Ryota  
> Yamanaka Ino  
> Aburame Torune [Former Root]  
> Onikuma Arata
> 
> Team Fifteen: [Infiltration and Assassination]  
> Sensei: Uchiha Mikoto  
> Hyuuga Hinata  
> Nara Shikamaru  
> Uchiha Sai [Former Root]


	15. Chapter 15

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Three_ **

**Chapter Fourteen: Oni-sensei**

There was something special, Toshiko thought, about Naruto’s ability to bounce back from life’s curveballs.

He cried, he questioned, and then he just somehow, as if by an internal, integral _magic,_ brought himself back to, well, _himself._

He resilienciency was a wonderous thing to behold, even as she hated the fact that he had cause to develop it in the first place.

Walking with him to Training Ground Seven, Naruto chattering at her and trying to pry information on what the “assessment” was going to be like on one side and Yua pacing alongside the other, Toshiko marveled over that fantastic elastic nature of his all over again, years after witnessing it for the first time when he still lived under the dubious “care” of the orphanage. Naruto’s world had crumpled and shattered around him, revealing foundations of rotting lies and secrets built on the back of his parents’ deaths and sacrifices, and yet he still managed to smile. His dedication to being a shinobi and protecting his precious people hadn’t faltered. If anything rather than _shatter_ somewhen between crawling into Toshiko’s futon and waking up, Naruto seemed to have torn down those rotten foundations to nothing and began to build himself back up even stronger than he had been before the beginnings of the truth had been revealed to him.

It was a skill that Toshiko had only successfully used herself just twice, once in her old life, and the other upon finding herself _aware_ in a new life and world and having no other choice _but_ to adapt or go mad.

Her nature at its core was not otherwise so flexible, though it had its share of dichotomous parts and fluid notions.

Perhaps it was only a difference between an _actual_ child and merely pretending to be one while having the set and (in her case) cynical worldview of an adult. Perhaps not. Either way, Toshiko genuinely admired this particular part of Naruto’s nature, though within him there was much to admire, and not _just_ because a return to tears and mourning would drag her down with it.

She wasn’t made of actual stone or ice, despite what rumors about her said, and even if she was, Toshiko didn’t know if that would be a viable defense against such a sight as a broken-hearted Naruto.

Toshiko held in a smile as Naruto darted ahead over the bridge at the training ground to join Sasuke where the other boy looked torn between ecstatic that Itachi had walked with him that morning and _deeply_ suspicious that Shisui had joined them. She took a human moment to _appreciate_ the picture that they made, three different but similar versions of Uchiha-handsome. Sasuke wasn’t there _yet_ still soft with youth in the face and more cute than anything as much as the descriptor would offend his easily bruised pre-pubescent ego. Like a leopard kitten. All softness and eyes but already possessing the claws and fangs and above all _instincts_ that would make him an apex predator one day.

And given the Uchiha learning curve many of them possessed, with or without the eyes activated, one day _soon._

She bit her lip at the thought, her mind overlaying the trio as big cats, giving into the whimsy: a jaguar for Itachi, a melanistic leopard adolescent over Sasuke, and a sleek cheetah masking Shisui for all that of the two adults, Shisui had a bulkier, more obviously muscled build.

Then bounding into the small pride of them came Naruto who was a golden retriever puppy in human form if she ever met one, for all that it would be easy to categorize him as a fox given his passenger.

“Sasuke!” Naruto cheered, bouncing in place.

Sasuke slow-blinked (not helping Toshiko’s internal musings _at all_ in the process) at the bundle of sunshine smiles and hyperactivity before staring first at Toshiko and then his brother in a perfect picture of _What-the-Fuck?_

Toshiko felt that look in her _soul._ It had roots in the same thing that had been on her mind earlier. _How was this kid real?_

It was a reaction she was sure was going to follow Naruto all his life. Especially with the vocation they had each either chosen or had chosen for them by the mere fact of their birth circumstances but hadn’t felt the need to struggle against submitting themselves to. Shinobi life just _wasn’t_ made of sunshine and sparkles and cheer.

Somehow people like Naruto and Gai-sensei managed to remain bright and hopeful nonetheless.

There were certainly, even for a Clan kid like Sasuke, worse ways to spend a life than in service to their people.

Even with all the acts that same _service_ may - and likely will - demand.

Shisui was glancing between Sasuke’s befuddled expression and Naruto’s mile-a-minute chatter with nothing but sheer gleeful schadenfreude by the time Toshiko and Yua met up with the group after Naruto darted ahead. Oh no. Poor Sasuke. Toshiko had a feeling or maybe a fleeting moment of precognition that the curly-haired Uchiha with blatantly _unfair_ eyes - how could those lashes be real? How? - was going to have the time of his _life_ teasing his younger cousin and rattling his cage over having such a perky and personable teammate.

By the _look_ that Itachi was shooting Shisui over the tops of the boys’ heads, Toshiko wasn’t the only one who’d clocked Shisui’s unholy entertainment at Sasuke’s expense.

Itachi, however, seemed far more defensive of Sasuke’s quieter nature than Toshiko was Naruto’s outgoing and bubbly one but that was to be expected.

Naruto’s personality was undeflatable, totally puncture proof.

His heart and mind less so, but in the end Naruto was very much _himself_ in a way that made certain kinds of “gentle” teasing like what Toshiko saw coming in Sasuke’s future at Shisui’s hands pointless to the extent of futility.

Getting a rise out of him was one thing.

Landing a lasting hit? Almost impossible.

“C’mon you two.” Toshiko chivvied her charges away from their pretty jounin-shaped distractions. “Kakashi-sensei won’t be here for a while. Let’s get you warmed up and ready while we wait on his butt.”

“Do you mind if we join you, Toshiko-chan?” Itachi asked with his typical politeness, having passed the blockage of surnames during the trip back from Sunagakure as far as it pertained to his senpai’s apprentice.

Toshiko took a split second to weigh their distraction factor - both for _her_ and for the boys - against Sasuke’s brightened expression before her soft spot for good familial relationships made the decision and had her speaking almost before she had a chance to process.

“Of course, Itachi-san,” Toshiko nodded politely, hiding her agitation at the thought of doing glorified yoga/tai-chi in front of _Itachi-and-Shisui-motherfucking-Uchiha_ while _she_ was very much appreciative of the pictures they were sure to make and _they_ were still enough years her physical seniors for them to be unable to do the same without it being anything but _skeevy_ if they were that sort in the first place. Which they weren’t, if rumors and her own observations confirmed. 

Damn thirteen-year-old body. 

Fuck. 

“Standard kata distance and spread,” she prompted them, Naruto already falling into place from years of experience and the Uchiha easily copying him even before the older two activated their Sharingan to record her routine and instructions.

That, she thought, might be what set those two and Kakashi apart from the rest of the Sharingan users in Konoha. Except maybe Fugaku, but she didn’t know him personally so it was impossible to say. They weren’t content to merely _have_ the activated dojutsu and use it in battle. They trained and worked with it _constantly_ like they did every other tool in their arsenals.

It was a habit all the really dangerous shinobi she’d met and been around long enough to take note of it had. They didn’t rest on their skills. Contentment was anathema. There was _always_ another ceiling to shatter, a skill to practice, or a jutsu to learn.

The shinobi who were truly lethal shared a single trait across the board:

_They never stopped perfecting their craft._

…

Never let it be said that Hatake Kakashi wasn’t a brilliant man - when he wanted to be.

Kakashi-sensei, aware that having his favorites of the current crop of Uchiha help with assessing both boys would automatically weight the tests in favor of Sasuke, showed up with a pair of shinobi Toshiko had only ever seen in passing and one that she was _more_ than well-familiar with: Genma, Raidou, and her Nobu-ji, all from ANBU the same as Itachi and Shisui (for all that she wasn’t supposed to know that) if feared for entirely different reasons. If, that was, they were known outside of Konoha at all, as Nobu-ji wasn’t _as_ Ono Nobu but his alter ego of Viper _was_ feared and/or respected far and wide. Sasuke did his skills test against Genma, Raidou, Kakashi-sensei, and finished with Nobu-ji while Naruto tried his best to hold his own against Tenzo, Shisui, Itachi, and then Kakashi-sensei in a replica of Toshiko’s own test set up but with varying results, strengths, and weaknesses.

The pair fought on opposite sides of the clearing at the same time to keep them - or at least she assumed - from making comparisons that weren’t likely to flatter or inspire either of them.

Then, in a sequence that seemed natural to the boys but was anything _but_ , Nobu-ji and Kakashi-sensei led them onto the same ground and into a pairs battle that they hadn’t been warned or prepared for prior to starting.

And there, Toshiko thought, she saw some of the fruits of her meddling and the changes spawning from it springing to life before her very eyes.

Rather than stumble over each other or get flustered or frustrated, Naruto and Sasuke fell into synch and what started as individual bouts ended as a pair match without so much as a startled twitch from either boy as they adapted to the sudden change of test parameters.

“What do you see?” Tenzo asked, the other ANBU surrounding them - staying to see the end results and in the case of Genma and Raidou have a chance to be around Minato-sama’s son _openly_ instead of from the shadows - listening even as they watched their comrades put the boys through their paces. Tenzo had grown fond of his love’s apprentice and as he’d come to know her recognized that while Toshiko-chan hadn’t the fantastical, once-a-generation brilliance of Kakashi or Itachi-san, when it came to understanding and predicting human behavior there were few in Konoha more adept than the teenaged girl with copper hair. And all those that surpassed her were Yamanakas so he didn’t know if they even counted with their clan’s techniques in play.

Toshiko watched Sasuke blow a fulminant Great Fireball at Nobu-ji, Naruto fanning the flames with a Fuuton: Great Breakthrough (having heard the story of her Chuunin Exams several times, knowing _exactly_ what that was going to do.) Then she said, almost absently: “Amaterasu and Susanoo.”

In unison Shisui and Itachi whipped their heads to stare at her in shock. Logic overtook instinct a moment later. She was being _metaphorical_ not literal. She had to be.

After all, how would she - how could she - know of jutsu not seen in the Elemental Nations since the Warring States period?

And even then, Amaterasu was a _myth_ of an ability, one not even _Madara_ or his father or brothers or his prized student in Shisui’s grandfather were said to possess.

“A master of fire,” she nodded towards Sasuke, even knowing - but having no way to _know_ it without giving herself away - that he was lightning natured like Kakashi-sensei, “and one of storms.” She blinked as Naruto twirled his bo staff having taken the weapon up after watching her with her tutor and getting interested. “A spear might be better.” She was thinking aloud now, though it was no accident no matter how it seemed to her audience.

Oh no, _nothing_ accidental about dangling an idea out there for Sasuke’s idolized (and protective from everything she’d seen and heard) older brother to bite on and run with.

Sasuke _might_ listen to a suggestion from her, but one from Itachi? She huffed a soft laugh. As far as Sasuke was concerned, it might as well be the word from the Sage reborn.

She tilted her head as if in consideration then cast her bait:

“A katana for Sasuke, he nearly has the reach and the strength will come with practice.”

Itachi and Shisui shared a look, Itachi arched a questioning brow and Shisui nodded.

He wasn’t a kenjutsu master by any measure, few shinobi were, but between him and Kakashi’s skill with any weapon put in his hands, they could give Sasuke a solid foundation to build on with a master like Hayate or Yugao.

If, that was, his adorable little cousin wished to learn in the first place.

Just as not every Uchiha awakens the Sharingan, not every shinobi finds a special weapon or skill they were uniquely suited for among everything in their repertoire.

Shisui himself, for all that he was known for his skill with the body flicker and his general speed, currently thought to be second only to the Raikage’s Lightning Cloak speed, was a master of “creative” solutions to prickly missions or problems. He wielded words, gossip, and illusion with the same deft hand as his tanto and kunai. It made him Konoha’s best saboteur and kept him in ANBU when traditionally after a term with the unit his clan head would have requested his reassignment to the military police, as happened with nine of out ten Uchiha shinobi.

But, Shisui cast a glance at copper hair and dark blue eyes - _too young, Shisui, too young_ \- he wasn’t the only one around with a more _creative_ bent to handling tricky problems.

Creativity took a certain facility and flexibility of mind to see beyond what _was_ to what _could be,_ along with a healthy imagination and disregard for established rules.

If Shisui didn’t already know that Toshiko-chan was earmarked for ANBU, he’d sponsor her in a second once she made jounin and pull off whatever maneuvering it required to have her assigned to his squad - granted that he was still _in_ ANBU and leading anything by then.

“Well, they’re not useless.” Nobu stated wryly as he stared down at the pile of limbs and ruptured egos that had formed out of a pair of cocky genin. “I’ve seen worse.”

An exhausted whimper was all the backchat even Naruto could manage at his less-than-stellar appraisal of their skills. The two adults had _worked_ at the end to strain even _his_ stamina as they knew that attempting to exhaust his chakra would be a losing proposition. The little brat.

Not for long, however, as Naruto was already lifting his head and glaring at Nobu with a pout that was more angry puppy than fierce chibi-shinobi.

Shaking her head, Toshiko walked over to the pile-o-boys, remembering well the sensation of getting her ass - gently, carefully, which just made it _worse_ somehow - handed to her during her own assessment. Reaching down she swiftly extracted them from each other, even though it required scruffing Naruto, and set them on their feet.

Sasuke was muddy from Kakashi-sensei’s mud hole trick, while Naruto was a bit singed around the edges from Itachi’s love of fire.

Uchiha were _all_ pyromaniacs, even the ones without the fire affinity, better Naruto learn _now_ rather than later that tiny fact since once Sasuke is introduced to higher level katon jutsus he’ll have to figure out a whole new way to spar with his teammate given his wind nature.

That she wasn’t supposed to know about for the moment but Kakashi-sensei would test them soon enough if he stays true to form.

“Walk it off or you’ll freeze up.” She ordered when they just stood there weaving a bit in place. She sent a questioning glance at Yua who huffed a bit but jumped down from the tree she’d used to observe - and nap, she _was_ a feline - and nudged Naruto forward in response. “Yua will make sure you don’t take a header into the Naka. Move it, gremlins.”

“Yes, Toshiko-senpai.” The compliance was grumbled but it came nonetheless. That was good enough for her as they stumbled off to lap the training ground.

“Hey there little Huntress.” Genma with his ever-present senbon greeted her cheerfully now that the “work” portion of his presence there was over. He liked her. And not _just_ because she’d up and decided one day to all-but-adopt Minato-sama’s legacy.

Outside of the likes of Anko - who all knew had a broken relationship with fear and self-preservation - little Toshiko-chan was one of the only people in the village that gave absolutely no fucks and Genma _adored_ that about her little chaos-loving soul.

Uncle was a terrifying assassin? No fucks.

Sensei with a reputation for getting teammates and friends killed? No fucks.

Entire village being asshats to a kid? No fucks.

That kind of loyalty - intelligent but nearly unbreakable - was _rare._

And rare people were _interesting_ people just because you couldn’t _always_ predict what they would do.

“How’s team life treating you?” Genma asked.

Toshiko shrugged. “They’re trainable and not boy-obsessed fangirls or girl-obsessed blockheads. It could be significantly worse.”

Raidou snorted at his husband’s side. Considering who Genma had been on a genin team with, truer words had _never_ been spoken. Having Gai and Ebisu, together, would have driven Raidou and most of the shinobi he knew to murder. And not just ANBU-sanctioned assassinations either.

The Sannin were another example of fucked-over team dynamics between the Legendary Sucker (and drunk), the Legendary Monster, and the Legendary Pervert.

It was refreshing to have a kid - chuunin or not - who actually _knew_ how decent a hand they’d been dealt and didn’t take it for granted that they got a good assignment.

“Speaking of _worse,_ ” Kakashi said brightly, eye smiling at her smugly as Toshi-chan’s face instantly turned suspicious and calculating at his cheer. “ _Gai_ has volunteered to have you practice with his team again while I focus on smoothing out some of the rougher edges on our cute little genin.”

Toshiko swallowed both a groan _and_ a curse. So much as a _hint_ of dismay and Kakashi would double down on whatever he had up his sleeve. He could be a sadistic bastard like that.

“When?” She asked, going utterly neutral at the news while the others around them either smothered chuckles or laughed outright at her expense.

“Afternoons unless we have a mission.” Kakashi continued to smile and the other laugh even as her gaze turned deadly enough to rival Fugaku with his “Wicked Eye” of wartime infamy.

She growled low in her throat, a sound made ever more fierce by signing the snow leopard contract. Her changes were minor. A bit of a vocal addition, some rosette “birthmark” type mottling on her shoulder caps, and thin dark lines rimming her eyes like ever-present eyeliner.

Only their audience - in particular _two_ of them with their pretty faces and a shinobi’s apex athlete’s build - kept her from all-out snarling in his face and taking a swipe at him. With or without her curved daggers. That he gave her.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like Gai-sensei or appreciate the time the taijutsu master was willing to give to her in order to have a new or now just different sparring partner to add to his students’ training.

He was a good man with a strangely pure heart given their shared career.

The problem and reason for her disgruntlement was that the personalities of Gai’s team when blended were _extremely_ fucking _annoying._

An opinion of hers that Kakashi had heard chapter and verse on since he’d inflicted her and Team Gai on each other but _refused_ to stop sending Toshiko to practice with them and learn from Gai _anyway_ because that asshole of a troll masquerading as her sensei _knew_ that she respected the hell out of Gai-sensei to the point that she wouldn’t loosen the controls she’d learned to keep on her temper in her first life and unload both barrels on Gai-sensei’s brats.

Toshiko was at least half certain that Kakashi forced her to start practicing with them for convenience - deny it all he wanted but he was closer to Gai-sensei than almost anyone else but Tenzo-san - and then kept to it once he learned how irritated she got in a sadistic attempt to get more bang for his buck than _just_ a taijutsu expert helping refine Toshiko’s personal style. If Toshiko was sparring and training with Team Gai, then not only was her taijutsu and even weapons handling and physicality improving but also her diplomacy and discretion and ability to hold her tongue. Whether she liked it or not, and almost entirely due to her own occasionally skewed notions of right and wrong.

Like, for instance, improving her fake-pleasant mask around difficult clients or important civilian diplomats after having _plenty_ of practice forcing a smile for Gai-sensei despite wanting to bite the heads off of one or all of his students.

Or, though it was unlikely, taking that same practice and applying it around kage and envoys from other hidden villages.

Given her performance and friend-making attempt at the chuunin exams (plus her spectacular loss of temper against the Kumo kunoichi) it seemed Kakashi-sensei thought she could benefit from more double-duty training.

The fucking sadistic cockwomble.

On the brightside, at least she lost it against an enemy shinobi and not an ally or a comrade so there was that.

“Maa, Toshi-chan.” Kakashi mock-gasped. “That’s not a nice thing to call your sensei!”

A chorus of snorts answered him, from more than his cute little apprentice.

“I’m not a nice person, _sensei.”_ Toshiko gave as good as she got, knowing by now _just_ how far she could push him before she tripped ass over teakettle on his own formidable temper or intrinsic sense of honor. “And I highly doubt you know _exactly_ everything I was calling you in my head.”

“Not like you haven’t done _something_ to deserve it over the last couple years, no matter what kind of insult it was, Kakashi.” Shisui told him, voice dancing with amusement.

“Truth hurts, love.” Tenzo clasped Kakashi’s shoulder as his partner gave a mock stagger as if wounded.

Much like how no one in their right mind would make an attempt on say, Uchiha Mikoto to use her against her husband, _no one_ would risk infuriating either the Copy-Nin or the only Mokuton user in the village by trying to use them against each other, making it a safer endeavor to acknowledge their relationship than it would be for, say, genin to do the same. They would never do the same on a mission, but inside the village was a different story, risk of spies aside. Besides which: anyone who came after them, separately or together, _deserved_ what they got because they were clearly too stupid to live.

Kakashi sent Tenzo a playfully-wounded glance then looked up meaningfully at the sky then back down to his kawaii little monster.

“Maa, Toshi-chan, don’t you know it’s _rude_ to be late?”

The curse she spat at him was _filthy_ as she spun into _shuushin_ and disappeared from the training ground to land (after an extra hop) in training ground five.

“You deserved that, taichou.” Itachi frowned at Kakashi, even as the others resumed laughing at Toshiko-chan’s exit. He _might_ have been blushing from the language she used, but thankfully his hot ears were hidden by his hair.

It was hardly the first time he’d heard a woman or a girl swear or be vulgar, but there was a _sweetness_ to Toshiko-chan’s build and features that disguised the fierce kunoichi she truly was at heart.

Such a trait was an excellent weapon for a shinobi, and one she wielded with skill and finesse, but like many it could cut both ways if she didn’t handle it with care.

“Worth it.” Kakashi declared with a nonchalant shrug as his new set of cute genin jogged easily into the clearing, no longer an inch from death as Naruto-kun had dramatically announced earlier at the end of the spars.

Seeing his attention turn, as was proper, to his students the other jounin - and Genma, who was content as a tokujo despite having the skill and power to promote but wanted none of the additional responsibility that went along with it (like teaching chibi-shinobi how not to die) - made their goodbyes.

Even the Uchihas, which got them a brief pout from Sasuke but couldn’t be helped.

Training them was both Kakashi’s responsibility _and_ his right, now.

Unsolicited interference, no matter how well-meant, wouldn’t be tolerated.

…

“Now, my cute little genin,” Kakashi told the boys with wicked glee ripe in his uncovered eye. “We can begin…”

Naruto and Sasuke gulped in unison as their sensei seemed to grow and _loom_ over them, the shadows turning his masked face demonic.

Both were filled with a sense of foreboding:

Naruto, because he’d been _right;_

And Sasuke, because he should’ve taken Naruto’s warning about Toshiko-san’s oni-sensei _seriously._

“Laps, my cute little genin.” Kakashi ordered them off with a gleeful little clap of his hands, orange-covered book making its first - but by no means its last - appearance. “Twenty on the _outside_ of Konoha. Don’t get eaten. Chop chop.”

When the pair had run off, protesting and griping all the way but compliant nonetheless, Kakashi looked down at Yua-san, once more a shinobi who would pass for semi-normal at first glance. (Well, aside from the open enjoyment of porn.) Or normal-ish for a _shinobi,_ anyway. Then he admitted to the man-eating feline who looked _distinctly_ unimpressed with him, who already knew that the dog-summoner sent her partner off without the courtesy of waiting for her to return from kitten-sitting the boys:

“Training Ground Five, with Team Gai.”

“She’s going to snap and shave your head one day.” Yua predicted as she huffed and twitched her whiskers in the leopard equivalent of an eye roll.

“I doubt it.” Kakashi decided as the snow leopard turned and padded away into the trees to return to her partner’s side. “If cute little Toshi-chan ever snaps, she’s going for those cunts from the orphanage first and the Sandaime Raikage afterward.”

Content with that knowledge (or assumption, predicated on just _how well_ he knew his apprentice’s mind) Kakashi went to find himself a nice spot on the east wall to read.

There were some well-hidden mud pits from an _incident_ yesterday that hadn’t been cleaned up yet and he had a bet with Anko over how many times his new minions will take a header into one of them.

Ah, chibi-shinobi.

Often useless until they gain experience and seasoning but still mini-supplies of countless hours of entertainment.

…

Toshiko buttoned her lips on cursing Kakashi-sensei as she stopped outside the entrance to Team Gai’s preferred training ground.

After seeing some of the outlandish tasks Gai-sensei set his students - tasks that were often as _unique_ but effective as the shinobi they were designed by - she knew better than to _shuushin_ into the training ground once they started for the day or after their scheduled breaks. Gai-sensei was as much a hardass about proper rest for the body as he was about training in the first place, which had been a sharp surprise for her the first time she trained with his team. Unfortunately for her, learning about the dangers of _shuushin_ in and around training ground five while Team Gai was using it was information and experience she came by the hard way while training for the chuunin exams. Between Kakashi’s terminal tardiness and his trolling habit, Toshiko had been late to meeting Team Gai at least half the time when the arrangements for her to join them hadn’t been set (and her informed) well in advance.

A fact that, other than the mishap that _shall-not-be-spoken-of_ , Gai-sensei was willing to brush off as a consequence of Toshiko being his Eternal Rival’s student.

(Her tendency to wear a mask like Kakashi’s hadn’t helped with the impression that she was picking up Kakashi’s quirks either through exposure and osmosis or intention, but there were worse assumptions for people to make about their master-apprentice relationship so she didn’t bother contradicting it.)

In the case of her late entrances, Toshiko still wasn’t clear on whether Gai-sensei thought they were Kakashi’s doing - being far more familiar with his quirks and foibles than most - or a habit she picked up from him.

Either way, she let it be, if only because she had a feeling that Gai-sensei’s answer might break her brain from trying to translate his verbal flourishes into semi-normal speech.

Confusion was a state of being around Gai-sensei she had come to accept between his habits of impassioned speeches and purple prose (the green jumpsuit and blinding smile didn’t help either) and she’d found that simply going with the flow was the best way to maintain her sanity around the taijutsu master.

As she came into view of Team Gai, she noted that all was what passed for normal for them instead of hip-deep in one of Gai’s odder training tasks, which was a relief.

Lee, looking like a Gai clone from the ink-black bowl cut to the orange arm-and-leg warmers, was running laps while his teammates sparred.

Tenten with her pigtails wrapped into buns with her sensible (one of the only young kunoichi with a brain when it came to attire) clothes and Neji - unmarked forehead on show which had stunned her nearly silent when she originally met him - wore his traditional Hyuuga white-and-purple loose training clothes weren’t all that impressive to watch. Mainly because while Tenten might beat any of the kunoichi and half the shinobi in her year, she didn’t have a patch on either of her teammates when it came to taijutsu. Neji had been _excellent_ from what Toshiko remembered of the story, a prodigy in almost every way.

With his father alive and well and whatever changes (other than the obvious lack of the Seal on the younger generations of the Hyuuga Clan) his clan had undergone as a result, he was even better than Toshiko had expected him to be.

He wore his hair up in a high ponytail emulating his father rather than in an inky fall to his hips like his uncle, a couple of strands left loose to frame his face and ending at his collar bone, his hitai-ate worn as a headband and the fabric sides covering the tops of his ears.

On Hyuuga Hizashi, the one time Toshiko remembered meeting the twins in person during the awful grieving daze following her mother’s death, the placement of the headband concealed the jagged scar that was all that remained of Hizashi-san’s upper right ear.

The price he paid, or so Nobu-ji said later, to assist in saving his niece and future Lady.

That saving Hinata-chan from Kumo’s kidnapping attempt, with the help of the two Hyuuga former-Root members, in turn saved his son and many others from the Caged Bird Seal wasn’t a fact she was told but it was one she inferred from little things she trained - and been trained - to pick up and analyze from whispers and off-handed comments around her.

Gai-sensei called out to her when Tenten was once again sent flying out of the sparring ring marked out on the ground, tossed onto her back by a palm strike from Neji that Toshiko knew from experience hurt like a bitch.

The Gentle Fist style wasn’t all that gentle when one was on the other side of it.

It was however, the same strike that Kakashi-sensei had taught her to charge with Raiton for her Lightning Palm technique after she picked it up from sparring with Neji, even though Neji himself wasn’t using chakra against his teammate.

He never did.

Whether it was by Gai’s insistence (as he’d done with Toshiko when she sparred his students) or Neji’s own preference, when sparring with the Hyuuga’s iconic taijutsu style he kept away from charging his strikes with chakra and disabling Rock Lee and Tenten’s tenketsu points.

“Toshiko-chan!” Gai exclaimed - which Toshiko by now was certain made up ninety percent of his speech. “I am delighted my Eternal Rival has chosen to be diligent in the cultivation of Your Youthful Endeavors as one of the Fierce and Lovely Flowers of Konoha!”

3,

2,

1…

“Yosh!” Rock Lee shouted. “Learning and Training with such a Sharpened Steel Blossom is Most Invigorating!”

“I’m a kunoichi, not a shuriken.” Toshiko ignored the odd turns of phrase without dismissing them outright - a delicate line to walk at times with the pair. “Full marks for effort, Lee-kun, half-marks for application.”

“Why must you encourage the loud one?” Yua asked grouchily as she padded out of the shadows, ears laid back and saying what both Tenten and Neji were thinking if their judging expressions were any sign.

“He has a good heart.” She shrugged the disapproval off. “Besides, I don’t look at it so much as encouraging as it is critiquing. I’m not interested in Lee, or anyone right now, which makes me _safe_ for him to practice his compliments and flirting on. No reward for getting it right but also no real risk for getting it wrong.”

Lee blushed bright red, steam nearly coming out his ears at her blunt statement, even as Gai-sensei stared at her with starry eyes for her “Youthful Compassion and Spirit!”

“You’re too nice sometimes.” Was Yua’s snarky reply.

“ _Sometimes,_ I think is the operative word there, Yua.” Toshiko grinned wickedly. “I’ve got an entire Hidden Village convinced I’m possibly demonic in Kumogakure so…”

It really, as many things did, came down to a matter of perspective.

“Who am I sparring?”

“Neji-kun shall be your first opponent, Toshiko-chan!” And now Gai-sensei was back in reality instead of in Gai-land of Youth Springtime with Rock Lee. “After hearing of your Most Youthful Conquest of the Chuunin Exams, my students’ Flames of Youth burn Most Brightly!”

Toshiko ran that through her Gai-to-human translator.

Neji was interested by her win and feeling competitive.

Tenten was happy Konoha won.

Lee was impressed she won and also feeling competitive.

Yeah, that sounded about right, and matched up with their expressions at their sensei’s announcement.

“C’mon,” Toshiko stepped into the sparring ring, waving Neji forward. “And don’t slip into bad old habits and start holding back because I’ve been gone a couple months and you’ve remembered I’m a female.”

“I would not do you the dishonor of such a slight.” Neji nodded his agreement with her warning gracefully.

Hell, the pretty - boyish and young like Sasuke but with a hint of _damn_ that was sure to come out as he aged - genin did _everything_ gracefully, it was aggravating.

And all his uncle’s influence, without a doubt, the poised bastard.

“See that you don’t.” Toshiko smiled brightly. “Or I’ll teach my new minions _exactly_ how to find the blindspot in the Byakugan.”

Neji narrowed his light lilac eyes, challenge accepted, even as Gai-sensei bellowed a laugh at the genuine threat.

If Gai’s memory served, one of his Eternal Rival’s new students was an Uchiha from the main family.

No other consequence for underestimating her, save perhaps his father and/or uncle’s disapproval would Neji take even half so seriously due to the ongoing - if mostly bitterly polite in the modern age - feud between the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans over who’s dojutsu was superior.

Intentionally, or not, young Toshiko-chan may have just found her _own_ eternal rival.

Yosh!


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went through and edited the previous chapters due to inconsistencies with Toshiko's birthday as I realized that I'd done a major whoops that messed up my timeline. She was born on 1 May not 1 October. My bad. I also had some minor (but irritating as soon as I noticed it) issues with her age in correlation to the other characters being inconsistent as well because I screwed up her birthday...so that's fixed too especially as it was more pervasive than the birthday issue.
> 
> Also: Happy Birthday Naruto!

**Reincarnation for the Win**

**_Part Three_ **

**Chapter Fifteen: Creative Solutions to Desperate Situations**

D-Ranks were _bullshit._

Obnoxious, irritating, messy and at times _demeaning_ bullshit.

Little more than chores performed by genin, they were also - unfortunately - the equivalent of entry-level tasks for young shinobi to learn teamwork; following instructions with real, fiscal consequences for failure; and strengthening both their physical skills such as strength and speed as well as mental skills like diplomacy, timeliness, and active listening to clients.

Toshiko completed the absolute _minimum_ D-Ranks in a rush of exhaustion six months after she signed her apprenticeship contract and hadn’t looked back since those two weeks of non-stop hunting, tracking, and capturing Tora in the mornings and babysitting or running errands in the afternoon and/or evenings.

Now it was her turn after a month of training with her new minions to inflict them on that demon masquerading as a cat and she could not hardly wait for the creature to get its comeuppance.

Because make no mistake: it was inflicting _them_ on _Tora_ not the other way around, a fact that had even ever-serious Yua chuckling every now and again as they watched it play out.

_Mrroww!_

_HssRrwwr!_

_Crash!_

“Target is coming up on your left, Sasuke-kun.” Toshiko reported into the radio-type communication devices Konoha used for short-range operations. Today, for their first attempt at _Mission: Capture Tora_ , she’d let the boys chase the wily housecat all around the village before stopping their charge-ahead tactics and playing to their actual strengths.

Charging in would work for _her_ now, but neither of the boys had the speed to outrun the demon cat in full-sprint or the skill to follow Tora’s jumps and climbing ability.

Retrieving Tora was a favorite mission of jounin-senseis to teach tracking and planning captures, and it _showed_ via how adept at escaping the hellspawned-feline was.

And yes: Yua could capture Tora in an instant but like Toshiko she both recognized it as an important training opportunity _and_ had been instructed by Kakashi-sensei not to handle the mission alone, and in Yua’s particular case not even to offer suggestions to any of them including Toshiko.

Round two after pausing to plan involved one of Naruto’s traps, Naruto and his shadow clones herding Tora, and Sasuke springing said-trap with Toshiko acting as eyes in the sky. Her job amounted to directing traffic. And trying to minimize collateral damage, but there were some drawbacks to living in a shinobi village that civilians just had to accept. Being run over by the occasional genin was one of them.

If she muted the comms and laughed whenever Tora managed to dispel one of Naruto’s shadow clones, that was no one’s business but herself and Yua.

But she was certain Kakashi and every other jounin-sensei plus bystanders used genin as walking sources of free entertainment anyway so it wasn’t like she was alone in finding their antics anywhere from mildly funny or rib-aching hilarious.

“Five seconds, Sasuke, target is nearing capture zone.” Toshiko gave the count. “5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Now!”

Naruto and his clones jumped as one, Sasuke pulled the ninja wire trigger precisely on cue and Toshiko smiled as nothing but enraged hissing and spitting sounded from inside the ninja-wire cocoon that had Tore the demon cat nicely contained. The net weave of the trap was fine but flexible, keeping Tora from wiggling so much as a paw outside of it.

“Great job, my cute little minions!” Kakashi appeared out of nowhere, as if he _hadn’t_ been watching the whole production from out of their line of sight. “Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, time to stop celebrating. The mission isn’t complete until the cat is returned to the Daimyo’s wife.”

Wrinkling his nose at Kakashi-sensei, Naruto released his _bunshin_ as Toshiko _shuushin’d_ down from the rooftop to join them, Yua clearing the building easily with a single athletic leap. Doing her part, Toshiko helped the boys detach the cocoon from the trigger lines, pinching the now-a-bag closed and preventing its demonic contents from escaping. She knew from literally-bloody experience that Tora was a wily opponent who would take even the smallest window of inattention to escape.

Not that it wouldn’t be entertaining as fuck to watch the boys lose their ever-loving-minds over it, but there was a time and a place and Toshiko still had practice with Team Gai to get to.

Another time.

…

_1 October; Konoha_

Between training with the boys, D-Ranks, training with Team Gai, and individual training with either Kakashi-sensei or Nobu-ji, Toshiko had approximately _negative_ amounts of time to spend by herself as summer bled into autumn and Naruto’s twelfth birthday approached.

(Sasuke’s twelfth was nearly buried underneath training and training and oh look: more training but the personable-for-an-Uchiha boy had been visibly pleased with the joint present from Naruto and Toshiko of a gift certificate to the Uchiha district’s senbei shop.)

Which was fine. It was great. _Fan-fucking-tastic_ even.

Three months of going non-stop and Toshiko was ready to _scream_ bloody murder if it meant getting a blessed uninterrupted _hour_ to herself that didn’t require her also being unconscious and therefore unable to soak it in and enjoy it.

As if _sensing_ the imminent eruption, Kakashi-sensei excused her from her normal daily routine (including _all_ training _and_ Team 7’s ongoing D-Ranks, _thank the Sage_ ) before she’d left for her sparring and weapons practice with Team Gai.

The sadistic asshole _might_ be hellspawn when it came to beating his students into malleable submission and then moulding them into shinobi capable of surviving the literal _end of the world_ if she remembered her Naruto Canon correctly, and had proven to be twice as bad when he was actually _engaged_ rather than going through the motions, but he had taken care to find out exactly _where_ the line was that separated puddles of tears from murderous impulses and walked it with care.

As ridiculous as it was, after _years_ of Kakashi’s idea of training and months of Gai’s, she was mostly desensitized to it.

It was only the addition of taking D-Rank missions - annoying _as fuck_ \- D-Ranks on top of everything else and enduring chakra drain every-other-day to increase her reservoires that had her ready to snap when she hadn’t been so close to _unhinged_ in at least a year.

A lie-in, some self-care via the kunoichi-only hot springs, and the salon she’d patronized along with her mother since Toshiko was old enough to need her hair trimmed, and Toshiko found herself refreshed and _much_ less homicidal.

Given that she hadn’t had the personal time to do more than touch up her chakra-infused (and conductive, which was useful _as fuck_ for sealing) nail polish as her nails grew she felt much less raggedy and one more split-end away from a crying jag. Whether due to the lack of personal time (which was entirely possible, she wasn’t going to lie) or hormones or going through her second puberty or simple exhaustion, the break and time to take care of herself had been very much needed. As a result it was a much more put-together and calm version of herself that went to her favorite out-of-the-way training ground for one of her favored forms of meditation: simple archery practice.

There was a simple pleasure and serenity in the repetitive motions of putting an arrow into place, drawing the string, aiming, and releasing. The rush of the arrow through the air, thwack of the string, hum of the vibrations as it thrummed in place, the thump of the arrowhead burying into the target, all of it was a music she’d known since the cradle. Literally. Nobu-ji _loved_ to tell the story of how the sound of his archery practice used to lull her to sleep as a baby even when nothing else worked.

That day, _her_ day, she wasn’t messing around with the family techniques her uncle had been teaching her, or working on refining her fuuinjutsu arrowheads, or practicing any of the difficult shots that were the bread and butter of a shinobi archer.

Nope.

Just the simple practice of her accuracy, not even working on speed.

Just knock, draw, loose: over and over and over again until her arms and core and shoulders and back were warm and flexible as the stress of teaching a pair of bullheaded pre-teen shinobi how to function as an effective _team_ and not just a gaggle of spare parts and lanky limbs melted away.

Which, of course, because Murphy was a bastard whose law she couldn’t escape, meant that before she could fall into _true_ meditation, Yua let out a soft warning _huff_ of breath from the tree line heralding that the watcher that had kept her from falling totally into awareness of nothing but her bow and quiver had decided to forsake spying for conversation.

Honestly, even having a damn good idea of at least the calibre of who was watching (ANBU) if not exactly _who_ due to them being aware enough of how being a summoner worked for her watcher to block their scent, sounds, and chakra, Toshiko had to admit to being a _bit_ surprised at who stepped silently out of the shadows of the trees.

Especially since she couldn’t think of a single damn reason that either ANBU, the Hokage, or the Uchiha Clan would have her under a level of observation that would require _his_ personal attention.

Toshiko debated through another shot and then another whether she wished to continue ignoring her watcher.

Then she set an arrow to the bow, whipped around and loosed in a motion fueled by chakra.

A motion that apparently startled the _shit_ out of Uchiha Shisui as the curly-haired shinobi tumbled out of his spying spot in the trees complete with a flail before he twisted in midair and landed crouched on his feet like a cat.

Or the elite shinobi that he actually _was_ once the shock of her actually noticing him and then daring to _shoot at his head_ wore off as the arrow buried into the tree above him with a _thwack_ and the shaft vibrated with a hum as Shisui looked in disbelief between the arrow at the smirking kunoichi who’d aimed it at him as he slowly stood.

Well, he couldn’t say he wasn’t _aware_ of both her temper and unpredictable nature before he’d decided to observe her with an _idea_ bubbling away in the back of his mind.

To that end, her reaction shouldn’t have been a surprise.

It was that she was aware enough - had been trained up enough under Kakashi, which... _yeah_ maybe not that big of a shock after all the paranoid bastard - to spot him in the first place that had taken him back and allowed him to get that smidge _too_ comfortable that led to his ducking the arrow and falling out of position.

“Do you have a _reason_ for spying on my practice, Shisui-san?” Toshiko asked dryly, pretty hunk of hotness or not. “Or should I mention to sensei that Shikaku-sama isn’t keeping you busy enough if you have time to waste watching a chuunin practice basic skills?”

Given the plan that’s been turning over and over again in the back of his mind and led to the aforementioned spying, there was no _way in the Underworld_ that Shisui was going to answer that honestly.

A plan that was helped along significantly at the sight of the young woman unearthed from the scrappy pile of bruises, blood, dirt, and ripped training clothes that Toshiko-chan had devolved into over the last few months as Kakashi tortured- er _trained_ \- Team 7 with Gai-san all-but-taking-over Toshiko-chan’s taijutsu and weapons training personally.

_Ah...memories._

Shisui wouldn’t take on a second round of what passed for Kakashi’s idea of proper preparation for an ANBU for _anything_.

Watching Toshiko-chan go through it had been an unpleasant reminder of memories that he’d happily buried after surviving his first year on Kakashi’s squad as it was, that if little Sasuke and Naruto would be in for the same if they chose to stick with Kakashi’s mentorship beyond genin made him wince in sympathy for his little cousin.

“Please don’t,” Shisui said with a visible wince over the implied threat to _tattle_ on him to the Hokage via Kakashi. Who would do it. Kakashi was exactly that kind of asshole. “Shikaku-sama would just tell Mikoto-ba-san and _nobody_ wants that.”

“Give then,” Toshiko arched an unimpressed brow over his attempt to flutter his lashes and get his way. Sage save her from bastards who were pretty and _knew_ it. “What were you doing watching me?”

Not even for a moment did she consider it was Shisui being a pervert or ogling a kunoichi too young for him like she would if it had been any of a dozen or so other shinobi who didn’t have the best examples of moral compasses when it came to that kind of thing.

Which was good, as it really _didn’t_ have anything to do with whether or not _Shisui_ could see himself being attracted to her when she became legal, though Toshiko wouldn’t learn about the twisty thoughts tying the Uchiha into knots for several years to come.

“Admiring your dedication, Toshiko-chan.” Shisui finally managed to recover somewhat smoothly from his befuddlement over getting _caught_ like a fresh-faced genin. “I have to ask,” he stated earnestly, tilting his head to the side. “It almost seemed meditative. Not unlike the exercises you led us through a few months ago.”

Exercises that after seeing the effects for themselves in Sasuke-kun’s chakra development, Shisui and Itachi had taken to practicing in the mornings as well, though they didn’t mention it to either Sasuke or the clan at large.

If their elders missed it, more fools them.

“Do many of your practices have a meditative element?” Shisui asked the question, which was a dodge still but genuine at the same time. “Or just archery and the morning stretches?”

Toshiko paused a long moment, studying Shisui intently, then turned back to the archery targets and returned to her practice even as she answered him with a question of her own:

“Do you know _why_ I spend so much of my time using meditation and chakra exercises, Shisui-san?”

“For the same reason as any shinobi, I would imagine.” Shisui shrugged, never having given the matter a lot of thought. Their profession was a violent one. Keeping their minds and emotions calm was one of the foremost lessons that all shinobi students were taught often from a very early age.

Not all of them keep to it, but it was still emphasized nonetheless.

“Not quite.” Toshiko responded as another arrow thudded softly into the target a hundred yards away. “I work with my chakra so much, from my morning stretches to my archery practice and in many other ways as well, because I will never have the power of my mentor or my teammates. My chakra reserves simply aren’t as deep as theirs and even exercises designed to increase them can only do so much. What I _can_ increase and improve on a consistent basis and with worthwhile results is the resiliency of my reserves, the flexibility and strength of my tenketsu points and chakra pathways, and the responsiveness of my chakra gates.”

As she spoke one arrow and then another and then another hit the targets anywhere from ten yards to two hundred yards away dead center and Shisui turned his burning-red Sharingan onto her, memorizing her technique and the minute adjustments she made as she felt the wind and decided on first this target and then that.

Her vibrant curls were twined up into a crown of braids and her eyes were dark with concentration as the autumn wind brought a rose tint to her moon-white cheeks.

And all of that: the promise of her future fae-like beauty when she was grown, paled in comparison to the vast intelligence she often hid behind a foul mouth, dirt streaks, and a vicious temper.

“So: yes.” She finally answered his question. “When I’m not working on something else, I’m probably meditating and working with my chakra, Shisui-san.”

“You would have been _terrifying_ with the Sharingan.” Shisui grinned, shaking his head and letting _none_ of where his thoughts had gone show on his face.

Toshiko scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“I’m _already_ terrifying, Shisui-san.” Her grin was all teeth and sharp canines. “Teenage girls always are. Just ask your cousins with their fear of fangirls.”

Shisui instantly grimaced, holding up a sign as if to ward off evil, and Toshiko laughed wickedly at the reaction unsympathetic down to her toes as he body-flickered away.

…

“Mikoto-sama, I must speak with you.”

Uchiha Mikoto, matriarch of the Uchiha Clan and daughter of a long line of women who on one hand played the noblest of ladies and on the other were some of the most feared assassins even among a society that had been _built_ on foundations of the blood of enemies, allies, lovers, and friends alike, didn’t turn at the words that her protege finally found the wherewithal to speak.

She’d felt him coming, felt the change in his chakra since the moment he passed through the _torii_ that had stood before the gates of their home since it had been the ancestral Uchiha lands and not merely a compound inside a village.

Since _before_ it had been a simple piece - if a large one - of a greater whole.

Many compromises had been made in the days of the Founding.

The Shodai’s trees surrounding the village in every direction were one such compromise as they - grown and inundated with his Mokuton as they were - were both protection and _army_ in the right (or wrong) hands.

That the Senju and all the other Clans and families that had joined together to create Konoha had to give up their _own_ compounds and estates and claim new ones save for the Uchiha was another: a strength given or a strength retained.

Not to say that the other clans _abandoned_ or forsook what was their own - hardly.

Even the Uchiha to this day still had outposts and farms and estates elsewhere dotted throughout the Land of Fire as did the others who could afford to do the same either in manpower or in ryo to maintain them.

And while Mikoto was no true sensor, such were the seals and jutsu laid into the walls and gates and very _ground_ of the Uchiha ancestral lands that there was nothing and no one who could hide from the ruling Head of the Clan and if the Head allowed, their spouse and/or heirs when the proper rituals were observed at the Uchiha Shrine overlooking the Naka River.

Outside their sacred walls, Mikoto might be only another jounin and noble wife, but _inside_ them her power was nearly absolute with only her noble husband able to either contradict or contramand her.

She almost tsked at the thought of her _noble husband_ and his ability to override her, the stubborn oaf.

Fugaku was a great shinobi, a proud clan head and head of the military police, a good husband and considerate lover, even a good father - but when he chose he could out-stubborn a _mule._

Or an Uzumaki, for all that there was only one of those left, much to Mikoto’s grief.

And on the subject that she was certain from Shisui’s chakra that he was about to broach with her _again,_ Fugaku had proven as intractable as the rising sun and twice as hot-tempered.

With precise delicacy, Mikoto snipped the last _atropa belladonna_ berry that she needed for her favored mixed of hallucinogenic poison and placed it in the small basket she was using for ingredient collection in her private sunroom where she in turns took tea in the peace of her retreat and cultivated her most used plants for her work. Many shinobi settled for pre-made mixtures, but that had never been Mikoto’s way or that of her mother’s family. Every step from germinating the seeds to coating her senbon was done with her own hands and precision gained from decades of practice.

It was a precision and attention to detail that had served her well both as one of the most feared kunoichi alive _and_ as the matriarch of her Clan who she was born to serve and bring honor above and beyond even her village.

Her young cousin and protege was hardly the only member of the branch family to have become _close_ to their charge or the only descendant of Uchiha Kagami alive, though it suited their Clan to have the village believe that Mikoto was from a lesser line of the main family. Which she was, through her father. It simply wasn’t _all_ she was.

Shisui’s father, Mikoto’s uncle, had been Fugaku’s original protector.

She hardly remembered him, though her mother had done what she could to keep his memory alive for Shisui.

They’d both been surprises: Shisui born late and Mikoto to a kunoichi far too young who’d never had any intention of bearing children for the clan rather than dying in battle at her beloved brother’s side.

Shisui had joined their household the same day his father died and Mikoto became not just Fugaku’s betrothed but also his shadow and protector.

Even if, many times with his pride and temper, she was protecting him - and the clan - from himself eventually taking over his duties with the Council of Clans entirely before his schoolboy rivalry with Hyuuga Hiashi ended in an _actual_ feud instead of the polite (and not-so-polite) rivalry over which clan’s dojutsu was superior.

It was, unfortunately, this turn of events and change of circumstances almost twenty years prior that led to their current deadlocked state over their son and his - if Fugaku had his way in the end - bride.

 _That pride of his would be the death of him one day._ Mikoto thought to herself with more than a little exasperation. _So determined to “save” Itachi from his father’s fears that he’d wed him to that wet-blanket of a girl who would sooner_ faint _than stand up to him._

It wasn’t an _unreasonable_ fear.

Fugaku felt just as deeply as any other Uchiha and far more fiercely than he would likely admit to even himself.

More than once he’s almost lost her due to her duties as a shinobi or her oath as his shield in the shadows.

That love had manifested with equal fervency upon their sons - hence his desire to protect them whenever he could.

Even, as both Mikoto and Shisui feared, at the cost of knowing the sort of joys that can only come at the risk of loss and pain - the foolish rock-headed _man._

Finally Mikoto set her pruners aside on the table, pulling off her protective gloves and turning to face her protege who she’d taught to carry out their shared duty with every ounce of cunning, viciousness, and power that their family line was capable of.

Shisui knelt in _seiza_ awaiting her full attention, palms pressed firmly to his thighs and head lowered with a stillness and patience that would shock _any_ of his academy instructors senseless.

Oh yes, she had done _well_ in training her little cousin indeed.

Mikoto swept the skirts of her yukata and underpinnings aside as she knelt with exacting poise, hands cupped and resting gently on her legs.

Then she waited several long beats until her cousin lifted his dark eyes that were the envy of every Uchiha maiden and half the village’s female (and some of the male though they’d never admit it) that made him look so strikingly like their grandfather Kagami-sama and spoke, utterly solemn.

“I know the topic of Itachi-sama’s honorable betrothed is closed with Fugaku-sama.” Shisui’s language was as formal as it was subdued, down to the honorific he hardly ever used for Mikoto’s son even around the likes of the Hokage and the Clan elders.

In fact, other than the ceremony when he was confirmed into his role of Itachi’s sword - because bless her sweet eldest child but he had no need of a shield with his quiet nature - Mikoto couldn’t remember a time when he’d used it outside of his studies when he was learning their family tree and how each person was to be addressed depending on the circumstances.

“It is.” Mikoto confirmed with the slightest of nods, not even a darkening of her eyes showing her ire over _that_ ongoing fissure of trouble in her marriage and partnership. “My honorable husband has made himself quite _clear_ on this matter.”

And the Sage bless Shikaku for presenting what amounted - to Itachi at least - to a stay of execution though having to put off the wedding until the Godaime decided between two of her boys for the position of Rokudaime.

That said: Mikoto could’ve done well without the unofficial gag order regarding the match that had arisen as a secondary result as those in the clan who were opposed had used the opportunity to both make themselves heard _and_ drive her husband into an ever-fouler temperamental intransigence regarding it.

“He has.” Shisui nodded, then proceeded to rattled off the list of reasons that Fugaku used to fend off any objects to the match that had been made when Itachi was a small child and Izumi little more than an infant: both _far_ too young for it to be anything but internal clan politics as even then Itachi had been nothing but indifferent to those outside of his immediate circle and his duty to Konoha. “Izumi-san is of the main line, the granddaughter of an elder. Her breeding is above reproach, her face and form exactly as it should be for an Uchiha maiden.”

That she _was_ a maiden had never been explicitly stated, but raised as she was by one of the strictest families in the clan with the intention of becoming the Head’s wife one day, the _Honorable Elder_ wouldn’t allow his granddaughter to be anything else even if such notions were old fashioned and frankly laughable for shinobi.

Rumor had it that even Mikoto-sama hadn’t been chaste and pure upon her marriage to Fugaku-sama, but then when they were Itachi’s age providing an heir was imperative - teenagers or not - as by the time when the Third Shinobi World War sparked into an inferno rather than rumors neither of them was in close sight of their second decade. Promised to each other from Mikoto’s birth and nauseatingly in love for as much as they frustrated each other at times, it would have been no shock if they preempted their vows. Teenagers weren’t any different from generation to generation for all that parents and grandparents liked to pretend otherwise the moment they spawned. And if a legitimate heir was the result, then even the stuffiest of elders looked the other way.

“An unobjectionable match in every way.” Mikoto commented, both of them keeping bland expressions on their faces even as they both _had_ lodged objections to it on multiple occasions as the reality of the situation proved to be quite different than the dry facts on the betrothal contract.

“But,” Shisui continued, not breaking character. “Not superior either.”

“Oh?” Mikoto deigned to arch a brow, more than willing to play his opposition. “How so? A daughter of the main line, one would think, could be nothing but an _exemplary_ match for the Clan Heir.”

“Perhaps, if mere _pedigree_ were all that had to be accounted for in a match and not the future of the Clan as a whole and the power of the Uchiha legacy.” He countered.

Mikoto hid a smile, though from the glint in Shisui’s eyes she knew he could read her well enough to see it anyway in her chakra if nothing else.

Her uncle’s choice of a bride in a relatively obscure (nearly nameless, as things as such stood within the Clan) kunoichi of _significant_ power had stood Ryu and Keiko’s son in good stead as Shisui’s skills and intelligence proved over and over again.

“Who could be a superior match above Izumi-san in matters of the future of the Clan and our legacy?”

That there _wasn’t_ another Mikoto or Keiko in this generation of Uchiha kunoichi had been the lynchpin of many an argument as Mikoto attempted to sway her husband’s thinking on this great matter.

“A kunoichi who possesses intelligence, cunning, and power.” Shisui listed off the hard facts behind his _idea_ before he even started to broach the squishier matters of Itachi’s potential happiness and personal fulfillment. Not because the latter _wasn’t_ important to Mikoto, even moreso than it was to Shisui himself, but because it _was._ Of the two of them, it would be his matriarch who had the harder battles to fight if his idea proved to her thinking to have merit. That at this point it was his _last_ idea to save Itachi from his own dutiful nature short of staging a coup and saving him at kunai edge was beside the point. “One who is already gaining a reputation for ferocity and tenacity. A kunoichi with the promise of beauty, with a legacy as far-reaching as the Uchiha, and a potential for bringing strong, powerful, _numerous_ children to the Clan to secure our legacy for generations yet to come.”

It was a fact, for all that the elders would never admit it, that their selective Uchiha-centric policy of matches in the main line had done them no favors.

Shisui was an only child, as was Fugaku-sama. Mikoto-sama was one of two children, as were her own sons. The days of multiple children had gone the way of the Founders - at least in their Clan, while their rivals in the Senju had bred themselves into extinction altogether with only a single blooded-and-named member remaining who was too aged to have children of her own.

The Senju would die with Tsunade.

If the Uchiha weren’t careful, for all that they still numbered in the hundreds, in a single generation the Uchiha’s main line could very well follow as narrow and unbranching as the line had grown.

Mikoto blinked, taken aback even as she’d started to understand where her cousin was leading his latest argument against Izumi-chan.

It wasn’t any less startling a thought despite seeing it coming.

If anything it perhaps was worse for having the lead-in and build-up.

“You speak of the Huntress.” Mikoto guessed accurately, Shisui tilting his head in a nod. “Hatake’s apprentice, the Ono scion.” She pursed her lips considering it for a long moment.

She’d seen the girl, heard her genin team speak of her in glowing terms - or at least with respect if they didn’t adore her as many of that year’s academy graduates did.

Her younger son among them.

If nothing else, from listening to Sasuke and her pupils, she _could_ say that if the child lived up to her reputation she would make a good mother outside of the name she was making for herself as a kunoichi of the Leaf.

“I’ve said that she has potential.” Shisui said quietly, breaking from the formal act and now speaking directly to his cousin, one of the only mothers he’s ever known with as young as he’d been orphaned. “Now that she’s grown more, had a chance to continue training and maturing, now that I’ve spoken with her and gotten a glimpse of how her mind works, I must admit that I might have been underestimating her.” He wrinkled his nose in frustration with himself for missing the mind behind the sass and power. Her mask was an interesting one, to be true, all attitude and shock value.

And yet: _it worked._

Much in the same vein as a street urchin’s chattering patter, one was so distracted by her act that they failed to notice the hand relieving them of their purse - or in the case of Toshiko-chan, of the information she’d gained from seemingly-innocuous questions and reactions.

If it hadn’t been for her tagging himself and Itachi in their return trip from Suna, he might never have noticed it for himself until the Hokage brought their attention to it.

Like many shinobi, Toshiko-chan didn’t simply _use_ weapons, she was one.

And that mind of hers might be the most formidable one in her repertoire.

“Are you certain your wish is for her to wed with _Itachi?”_ Mikoto smirked, brows lifting in surprise at what was nearly _affection_ so warm was her little cousin’s tone. A tone generally reserved when he wasn’t acting the _singular_ un-Uchiha Uchiha for the village to put them at ease and invite confidences and forgetfulness over his clan, for her sons and a scant few of his ANBU teammates. “If she wasn’t still so young, I’d think you had an infatuation with the little cat.”

That Konoha’s _Hound_ had ended up with a feline summoner for a protege would never _not_ be funny to Mikoto along with ninety percent of the village who knew about either Hatake-san’s ANBU alias or his summoning contract with ninken.

Shisui grimaced, looking away from her suddenly _far_ too perceptive gaze.

“She’s too young for me as things stand.” He admitted. He never _could_ lie all that convincingly or hide things for long from Mikoto-ba-sama. Then again, he didn’t know _anyone_ who could, except maybe Shikaku-sama, so perhaps that was as it should be. “Five years is one thing when the younger is in their late teens but when it’s the other way around…” His expression was plain distaste. “She’s pretty, but it’s a _young_ prettiness. For now, it’s who she _could be_ that I want for our Clan and I believe her personality and pragmatism would lend balance to Itachi as his partner. If things were different…” He trailed off, shrugging, even as he knew Fugaku-sama would’ve smacked him upside the head for the uncouth movement.

Mikoto allowed herself a moment of weakness, dropping the stern matriarch and protective mother for the loving cousin - if _only_ for a moment.

If Shisui was right, and there was no reason for him to be otherwise, then his idea _did_ indeed have merit.

Mikoto would save her son from a dutiful, dull, unhappy, bland domestic future if it was the last thing she did.

Even if it meant sacrificing her cousin’s potential happiness to do it.

Which, she supposed, was exactly the reason he’d come to _her_ with his plan rather than Itachi himself for all that it would’ve been taken _far_ better and more seriously from the man in question rather than Mikoto - if only regarding this particular issue - by her honorable husband.

She didn’t do her cousin the dishonor of offering platitudes or placations.

Uchiha when they felt, felt deeply.

But of her two older boys, it was Shisui who would be far easier to match for marital harmony if not happiness than Itachi.

If he was willing to make such a sacrifice and remove himself from the running for the most powerful, and sought-after though the girl herself likely had no idea as removed from Clan politics as she was, kunoichi bride in two generations with her long legacy of powerful shinobi and personal reputation, then Mikoto would do - _could do_ \- nothing but honor that sacrifice.

Mikoto heard whispers from more than her students and her household after all.

The rumors surrounding the offers that would be made to both her uncle and Hatake-san for her hand if she lived to see sixteen were significant indeed.

Fortunate for the Uchiha Clan that most of those offers would be lodged by widowed Clan Heads for their Heirs and not by another kunoichi.

Silly _men._

Thinking that they knew how to secure a woman’s affections because once upon a time their fathers arranged their matches or some woman saw their handsome faces, powerful bodies, and deep pockets and threw themselves at their heads.

(In clan homes all around Konoha, several _silly men_ suddenly were overcome with sneezes.)

Oh no, for a kunoichi like Toshiko-chan, an _arrangement_ would suit ill.

There was only _one_ way to woo a cat after all, Mikoto thought with a rather feline smile of her own as she dismissed her cousin and summoned her favorite of her summons: an ink-black short-hair housecat, perfect for information collection.

When it came to _cats_ , if you wanted anything from them, one simply had to make it seem like their own idea.

And if there was a red-blooded female, let alone kunoichi, who looked at her Itachi and dismissed him in favor for the likes of a Sarutobi, Aburame, Kurama, Nara, or ancestors-forbid a _Hyuuga,_ Mikoto would like to meet the unnatural creature if only to ascertain that she did indeed have a pulse.

Now if Hatake was both inclined towards women _and_ not Ono’s teacher, _he_ might have been a problem Mikoto would have to...handle.

Especially if under that mask of his he was half as handsome as his infamous father.

The Hatake Clan always had produced rogues too handsome and dangerous for any woman’s good sense.

Thankfully for Kakashi-kun’s status as, well, _alive and unpoisoned_ , he wouldn’t be a problem.

If anything as her Itachi’s senpai, he might even be a help rather than a hindrance.

Nodding once, Mikoto resolved herself to observing the girl and coming to her own decision on the matter though she did tend to trust in the veracity of his information and observations.

When it came to her children however, in the end a mother could trust no one but themselves.

Plots within plots stirred in the back of her mind, both for taking the measure of the girl personally _and_ for managing her husband if the end result was in favor of her cousin’s idea to nullify the Izumi-shaped rupture in her familial harmony.

Mikoto’s eyes flicked over her plants, touching on poisons mild to lethal that nestled side-by-side with toxins to induce everything from vague health complaints to stroke to aphrodisiacs.

Well. When it came to Fugaku, it wasn’t like she wasn’t without _options._ Options that others from her son to her cousin to the Hokage himself didn’t have access to for one reason or another.

Her sons _would_ have their best futures and be their strongest selves.

No matter what measures she had to take to make it so.

Such was the duty of a mother.

And to an Uchiha, those were the sorts of duties that came _first_ before husband, family, and clan, let alone the village as a whole.

Perhaps, if the Senju had thought the same, they wouldn’t be all-but-extinct.

Their loss, and with this newest generation shaping up to be powerful indeed without a single Senju in sight to influence them, the Uchiha’s gain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Character Ages as of the end of Ch. 15:
> 
> Kakashi - 25  
> Toshiko - 13  
> Naruto - 11  
> Sasuke - 12  
> Shisui - 19  
> Itachi - 17  
> Neji - 13


End file.
